The Flame of Sunset

Fluttershy, despite her name and demeanor, could actually be pretty talkative. Ever since Biology class she was going on and on about various animals and how they are adapted to survive harsh environments, it was all very interesting but Sunset was beginning to have trouble following along. Sunset considered herself fairly intelligent but she couldn't understand when Fluttershy started using binomial nomenclature. Just smile and nod, Sunset. Don't ruin it. she scolded herself as they entered the lunchroom. The girls grabbed their food and entered the line to pay for it, surprising almost no one, Fluttershy chose the vegetarian option while Sunset opted for a bag of chips. She silently prayed that Fluttershy wouldn't acknowledge how small her "meal" was as they chose a vacant table near the exit. The girls sat opposite to each other as their conversation slowed down to allow Fluttershy to eat her salad, Sunset didn't press her to talk she was just glad she finally could sit and eat with anyone.

As people entered the lunchroom they spared quick glances at their table before turning away. Everyone avoided their table like it was a plague island, a group of catty looking girls whispered among themselves gasping loudly at every revelation. Sunset rolled her eyes some little gossipers must of spilled the tea on her past, Of course they would, who could resist gawking at the freak who almost burned down her school. Sunset sighed, feeling that all-too-familiar sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach.

Before she could sink lower into self-loathing, a quiet voice rang in front of her. "They're not looking at you."

Sunset blinked. "I'm sorry?"

"They're not looking at you." Fluttershy repeated, giving one of the saddest smiles Sunset had ever seen, "They're all scared of me."

"Scared of you?" Who could be afraid of Fluttershy, the girl was as threatening as a bunny. She was more likely to talk their ear off than ever actually hurt anyone.

"Why?" Fluttershy shifted in her seat, clearly uncomfortable with talking about whatever it was.

Nice job, dumbass. Way to screw up your only chance at making a friend, let's see you ruin this like you ruin everything else. "Never mind, you don't have to say anything if you don't want to." Sunset offered a reassuring smile, despite her hands shaking under the table.

Fluttershy shook her head, "No I...need to say it, for months now I never really said it out loud but I have to. I've just been pretending nothing ever happened."

She exhaled, forcing herself to make eye contact with Sunset which obviously seemed very hard for her. Taking a moment she steeled her nerves and continued.

"At my old school, I...I hurt someone." She poked her salad absentmindedly. "She wasn't the nicest person there but she still didn't deserve that. No one deserves that."

"I've done things in my past that I'm not proud of either so if anyone understands what you going through, it's me." Sunset reached out her hand and let it rest on top of Flutershy's. "If you ever need someone to talk to I'm here, no judgment."

Fluttershy gazed into her eyes, feeling a wave of calmness wash over her entire being. In that moment just hearing that felt so much better, it didn't erase her guilt but it definitely helped. She smiled feeling her eyes water.

"Thank you." She said, her voice full of gratitude.

Sunset nodded, going on to finish her chips so relieved that her appetite had returned slightly. Fluttershy followed her lead and ate the rest of her food in a comfortable silence.

9 months ago

Fluttershy grunted as she was knocked to the concrete floor. She barely had enough time to catch herself, causing her skin her palms. Blood began oozing lazily out her wounds as she felt the dull, pulsing pain spread throughout her hands. She winced, turning to look up at whatever or whoever hit her.

"Oops, didn't see you there." A brash, boyish voice sneered at her.

Fluttershy instantly recognized the voice, rolling her eyes. Of course it was Gilda, only she would be this petty. Fluttershy could recognize that obnoxious white hair with tacky pale lavender highlights anywhere. Despite their school's strict dress code of a dark blue skirts and matching blazers, she still looked like the punk she acted like since middle school. Her hawkish, golden eyes glared down at her, daring her to challenge her statement. Fluttershy pushed herself off the ground only to have her legs swept up from under her making her fall face first hard onto the ground.

"Oh I'm sorry did you trip over your own feet there? You should be more careful, sweetheart."

Fluttershy felt her anger begin to bubble to the surface, her face flushed and her breathing got shallow. She glared hatefully up at her bully, but stood up without a word.

"Yeah that's what I thought, mute." She shot back, purposely bumping Fluttershy as she walked by.

Fluttershy clenched her fists, her entire body tensing up like a coil. Gilda had been picking on her for most of elementary, middle, and high school, her dedication was almost admirable. It seemed like no matter where she was or what she did Gilda was always one step behind her to call out every one of her flaws, from her height as she was easily the tallest the girl at their school to her shyness as she struggled to speak any louder than a polite whisper. Most of the time Fluttershy could blend into the background and go unnoticed by her teachers and peers but Gilda had eyes like an eagle, she could always pick out her flaws and go on to loudly proclaim her shortcomings to the world. The worst part was if she told anyone about the bullying Gilda would become unrelenting, following her home to hurt her or steal her things. Fluttershy learned early on that silence was best option but lately it was getting harder to bite her tongue.

She closed her eyes and breathed deeply, trying to calm her growing anger while she walked to her class. A red, hot fury continued to sit in her heart for the rest of her morning, everything else faded out of focus becoming white noise until she realized half of the day was gone and she was glaring down at her salad for most of her lunchtime. She exhaled as if trying to push down years of pent-up resentment in a single moment. Just breathe, I have to calm down. Nothing good is going to come from staying angry, even with these calming words her fist was clenched so tightly that her nails began digging into the palm of her hand causing red blood to ooze slowly out of the new wounds. Before she could register the pain, lukewarm liquid rained down over her head instantly snapping out of her trance.

Fluttershy whirled around only to be greeted by the sight of a smirking Gilda still holding the carton of milk in her hands, that look of amusement was permanently etched into Fluttershy's memory. Time only seemed to move as the smell hit her nose, the milk that was dumped on her was spoiled and considering the chunks clinging to her hair and clothes it was very old. There was a pause but then the entire lunchroom erupted in raucous laughter. Gilda gave her a self-satisfied smirk before turning her back to Fluttershy without a word. At first she felt nothing as if all the emotion was sucked out of her but then she felt her heart beating. Fluttershy heard the distorted, quick rhythm in her ears as if it was so loud that the whole world could hear it, her chest heaved quickly as she lost control her breathing. Her face flushed, she felt the sting of tears blur her vision, and her jaw clenched. Before she knew it her body was moving on its own and Fluttershy took off after Gilda.

Fluttershy snatched Gilda's wrist, stopping her in her tracks. "Oh, you wanna go...” the threat was caught in Gilda’s throat as soon as she saw Fluttershy.

The quiet girl suddenly seemed so threatening she towered over Gilda, she finally straighten up her back standing at her full height. Had she always been this tall? Gilda wondered, feeling the girl's eyes glaring hatefully down at her. Gone were her normal cyan eyes replaced with a brilliant scarlet that burned like a fire, was she wearing contacts? It felt like icicles ran throughout her veins as she stood frozen in one of the most suffocating glares she had seen in her life. Fluttershy’s nails began to dig into her wrist easily breaking the skin, they felt like the claws of an animal more than any human nails. Even through this strange trance she was under, Gilda could hear this inhuman snarl come from Fluttershy as she flashed her strangely sharp looking fangs.

“Let...go...” Gilda could barely form the words as she was trapped by the normally shy girl’s stare.

Suddenly, Fluttershy tightened her grip until Gilda’s wrist made a stomach-churning snap sound. The reaction immediate as Gilda screeched in agony. She tore her now shattered wrist from Fluttershy’s grip, cradling it in her opposite arm. As if snapping awake from a daydream, Fluttershy blinked her eyes returning to their natural color.

The lunchroom erupted in noise, from screams of fear to the sounds of retching at the sight of Gilda’s mangled wrist. Fluttershy gaped at Gilda as realization finally sunk in, she had hurt someone. Teachers rushed over to the two girls, most went to Gilda trying to help the injured girl. Even with the new people arriving Fluttershy stood frozen staring at the injury she caused. Teachers began screaming at her demanding to know what happened, but the girl stood too shocked to talk. A male teacher suddenly reached out yanked Fluttershy’s arm trying to get her attention.

Being caught off guard, Fluttershy took a wide slash with her opposite hand. The teacher yelped in surprise, letting go of her arm. Her claws tore through his sleeve, leaving four long slash marks. The teacher grabbed his arm, searching for injuries not daring to take his eyes off the suddenly dangerous girl.

"What did you do?" He spat, his voice was filled with venom and fear.

Before the girl could form any kind of explanation she ran out of the lunchroom with tears streaming down her cheeks. What had she done?

Pinkie never really had any trouble making friends, she loved meeting new people and was always eager to please. But this school seemed to test that idea as she stood out in her history class like she did in her family. Most students were wearing simple clothes with muted colors while her choice of white and bubblegum pink instantly caught everyone's attention and not in the good way. Everyone else was content to either talk with their established friends or to not talk at all. Even the teacher only spoke briefly, opting to hand out a worksheet and sit at her desk scrolling through social media on her laptop.

Pinkie was seated by an empty seat on her right and a girl with inky black hair with long bangs hanging in her face. She was wearing a gray hoodie and simple pair of black jeans, her head was down working on her classwork not sparing Pinkie so much as a second glance. Come on, Pinkie you can do this. Just talk about something, anything, if all else fails just talk about the weather or something. Pinkie prayed it wouldn't have to come that the last thing she wanted was to come off like an awkward office worker who cornered you at the water cooler. She cleared her throat.

"Hi, I'm Pinkie Pie." Pinkie introduced, holding out her hand for a handshake.

"Dabria." she answered flatly, not bothering to look up from her paper.

"Oh that's a pretty name." Pinkie offered, lowering her ignored hand.

"Not really, it's the name of the Angel of Death." Dabria shrugged.

"Oh well that's interesting." Pinkie could feel the conversation beginning to flat line as she desperately tried to change the subject.

"Sooooo....some weather we're having."

"Look," Dabria finally looking up from her paper, only to glare frustrated at Pinkie. "You seem...nice enough but the last thing I want is to constantly be forced to sit here everyday and exchange pleasantries with an ignoramus like you. I for one don't want to stay in this abhorrent school for longer than necessary. I just want to get my diploma and move on with my life."

"I just wanted to talk." she answered, feeling some eyes fix on the two girls as if waiting for their conversation to escalate further into a full-blown argument.

"Well I don't, maybe you could use your last two brain cells to pick up on social cues instead picking out those ridiculous clown clothes." A few students snickered while others oohed eagerly awaiting Pinkie's response.

"Right, I'm sorry." Pinkie apologized, feeling a lump form in her throat. She could hear her classmates' disappointment at her tame response.

"That doesn't require talking." she snapped, turning back her paper.

Cut. Pinkie slowly turned back to her paper, feeling the world around her blur like it was going out of focus. Her mind was swarming with thoughts after being shot down. Even though everyone had turned around after all the excitement had died down, Pinkie still felt like she was being ogled like a strange painting at an art museum one that everyone was trying to figure out. She pulled at her leggings out of habit although no one would have noticed her scars. Despite all the work she was doing to break her habit of cutting it always felt like one comment would send her back. The worst part in all this was that she wanted to stop cutting again was not because of her own safety, the reason she wanted to stop was Maud's happiness.

Cut. Pinkie almost laughed at her own plight, it was funny that she wanted to make others happy more than cared for her own well-being. She was so stupid to think that she would suddenly go to a new school and make a bunch of new friends so quickly, like anyone would want to spend more than five seconds with an annoying, hyperactive, motormouth like her. It was amazing that Maud just didn't dump her back at their parents' house when discovered with a razor in her hand all those weeks ago, she wasn't worth all the heartache.

Cut. Pinkie gripped her thighs, barely registering the dull, pulsating pain. It felt like she was adrift in a black sea with towering waves. The water was so heavy like swimming in syrup and whenever she managed to get a rhythm in swimming a wave would come crashing down overhead. At times like these she wondered if it was worth it to fight against the current or just accept it and sink. Before she could fall deeper into self-loathing, the classroom door slowly creaking open catching everyone's attention.

"Please excuse me for being tardy, there was a mix-up with my schedule and I went into the wrong classroom." A well-spoken and fashionable girl apologized, somehow managing to look like so fresh despite the fact that school was halfway over and she had been running all over campus.

Their teacher barely acknowledged her arrival and simply gestured to a stack of papers on her desk. The new girl walked to the desk, her heels clicking with every step. She grabbed a paper and sat down in the only empty seat, right next to Pinkie. The girl's arrival snapped her somewhat out her funk and Pinkie went on to finally starting her worksheet. Fortunately, one thing about school that Pinkie actually liked was that most schoolwork only really tested her memory than any other skill and memorization was her forte. She had near perfect memory as she made it her mission to remember the birthdays, preferences and names of any friend or acquaintance she had made, til this day she remembered that her fourth grade Math teacher, Mrs. Nag was lactose intolerant but still enjoyed cheese platters so she would have to include lactase pills compared to that remembering a little history was nothing.

Just as Pinkie started her work she felt a pair of eyes sizing her up. Just ignore it, just ignore it, it's not a big deal, but her curiosity quickly got the better of her and she quickly glanced around the room searching the source. Her sky blue eyes meet a pair of cooler azure ones, it was the new girl. Pinkie began to sweat under her serious stare, she felt like a piece of meat thrown out to the sharks. The girl was crazy intimidating, she was wearing heavy black mascara and icy blue eyeshadow that made her look more adult. Everything about from her mature outfit, her perfectly styled indigo hair and her confident posture was the exact opposite of everything about Pinkie. She looked like she could be running a fashion empire while Pinkie should still be using safety scissors.

"Very nice choice of colors. Pinks and blues definitely compliment your complexion." Pinkie blinked. Did this fabulous lady just compliment her clothes?

"Thank you." Pinkie said earnestly.

The girl snapped out of her more serious expression and flashed an apologetic smile. "I'm sorry I didn't mean to stare, I saw you earlier in homeroom and wanted to compliment your outfit."

"Oh yeah, I saw you too. But you looked like you didn't want to be bothered." Pinkie remembered the girl's cold expression earlier that morning. Everything about just screamed 'I'm not in the mood to talk and there's nothing you can do to change that' and Pinkie's desire to not be yelled highly surpassed her desire to make friends so she didn't push.

"Your clothes look really nice too. Um...where did you get them?" Pinkie prayed that she would take the bait and continue the blossoming conversation.

"Oh, this old thing? I just made it over the summer break, one must always make a good first impression." Pinkie's eyes bulged.

"YOU MADE THAT! That's amazing!" The girl smiled and blushed.

"Why thank you Ms..."

"Oh um...Pinkamena. My name is Pinkamena Diane Pie, but..." she paused. "My friends call me Pinkie."

The girl paused, considering Pinkie's words. Pinkie cringed, inwardly cursing her motor mouth. Real subtle Pinkie, why don't you just beg her to be your friend next? She opened her mouth, quickly trying to form words to alleviate the awkwardness she had created.

"A pleasure to meet you, Pinkie. My name is Rarity." Rarity extended her hand for a handshake.

Pinkie eagerly took her hand and returned the girl's firm handshake. She began memorizing Rarity's name and skill with making clothes, keeping it in a special place her mind reserved for information required to throw a party for potential friends.

"That's funny I don't recall signing up for a fashion class." Dabria snapped, throwing down her pencil in exasperation.

Rarity blinked, completely unimpressed with the girl's comment. "Oh please excuse us, Darling, but I don't recall either Pinkie or myself asking for your opinion."

The class oohed even Pinkie was caught off-guard by Rarity's sass. Dabria scoffed. "This is a History class, I'm sure everyone else doesn't want to listen to your inane drivel."

"Oh please," Rarity rolled her eyes. "if the class had a problem I'm sure they would have said something. Unless you're some expert on what everyone is thinking."

"I..." she began but was swiftly cut off by Rarity.

"That's it, right there. You, you have a problem. How about instead of being a passive aggressive brat you put on your big girl pants and just say it out loud."

Dabria flushed, sputtering indignantly."You bumptious..."

"Is your use of those ten-dollar words supposed to impress me or something?" Rarity shot back looking at Dabria like someone would look at a child having a tantrum.

Dabria growled angrily but turned back to her work without a word, while the rest of the class erupted in laughter before being silenced by their practically mute teacher. Pinkie gaped in awe of Rarity, in the short time of knowing each other she never ceased to amaze.

"Wow..." Pinkie remarked, still gaping at Rarity.

"Oh I apologize for that rude display, I just can't stand people like that. I might have went too far with her." Rarity seemed genuinely disappointed with herself.

"Don't worry about it, some people are just really mean. And sometimes they need a strong push to know you mean business." Pinkie reassured despite feeling a pair of eyes glaring at her back.

Pinkie stared down at her hands, "I just wish I could do that do too. It's always hard for me to be mean to people like that."

"What do you mean?" Pinkie couldn't meet Rarity's gaze.

"Whenever someone is being mean to me I...I pretend to be oblivious like I'm too ditzy to understand them, more often than not they leave me alone."

Rarity placed her hand on Pinkie's knee causing her to flinch first the shock of the sudden contact then from the feeling of her leggings rubbing against a recently recovering scar. Rarity's concerned eyes met Pinkie's anxious ones, she always had an eye for details and noticed the underlying sadness as well as the wince when she touched Pinkie's leg. Not wanting to make her uncomfortable or cause her further pain she moved her hand away, offering a smile.

"Well, I'm more than happy to defend you. If anyone is causing you any problems you just let me know."

"Why?" The question came out as a whisper. "Why would you do that?"

Rarity couldn't explain why she wanted to help this girl, maybe it was her inner big sister instincts. Maybe it was because when she first entered into the room Pinkie looked so sad, just the way her bouncy pink curls drooped so low almost a deflated balloon.

The bell rang, shocking the two girls out of their conversation but neither made an attempt to move or look away from each other. Rarity thought for a second, all the other sounds faded out as she stared at the shorter girl. She leaned forward and extending her arms, pulling Pinkie in for a warm hug. Pinkie was caught off-guard but did not pull away from her, simply letting the taller girl embrace her. She paused for a second before reciprocating the hug, this was the one of the few times that she didn't have to start a hug herself.

"Because it's what I wished someone did for me." Rarity finally answered.