Fluttershy looked at Mystable as she walked from her home. Anon-a-miss had posted again, some failed trick of Trixie’s causing a few light bulbs to pop. She flinched at the small explosions as the string of lights blew and Trixie fell off her stage. Fluttershy paused as she looked at the post. She was a wallflower, and rarely anything else. And while sometimes her friends made fun of her for it, she did get to fade into the background if she was minding her own business. So she was privy to a few things most people weren't. Like the fact that Sunset bought some things from Trixie every week, as an example.

Fluttershy had never thought much of it. Sunset, despite her athletic hobbies, was still a student at heart, she just loved the practical application. She could remember Sunset's help in chemistry - whenever she looked over Sunset's notes it was filled with small sidenotes. Mentioning alternate uses for everything they covered. So the fact she might get supplies from someone who was well known for being able to get common stage tools wasn't all that strange. But she also remembered when Sunset was a bully, as for all the things that Sunset threw at her, there was always some lesson Sunset would toss in afterward.

Granted, it was normally suggestions that Fluttershy couldn't act on. Getting mad, throwing punches, all things the shy girl could never see herself doing. But she vividly remembered the only time Sunset used one of Fluttershy's actions against her. She had been cornered on her way from the lunchroom, Sunset leaning against a pair of lockers in the hallway, with her usual cruel smirk on her face. "Heya Fluttercry. I gotta say, you've impressed me." Fluttershy flinched at that, anything she could have done to impress Sunset Shimmer was obviously bad. She looked in horror as Sunset pulled out a small pack of photos. She passed one to Fluttershy, who was nearly trembling as she picked it up. There, in full HD, was her, looking fearfully around as she used a computer at the animal shelter, one with her former boss’s name clearly labeled on the desk.

Sunset whistled as she passed the next one of Fluttershy passing a small thumb drive to an officer as her former boss was escorted from the shelter in cuffs. "Honestly Fluttercry, this has shown me you do have a spine somewhere in that mass of jelly you call a back." Sunset put the remaining pictures back in her pocket, leaning back on the lockers fully. "It was pretty good work for an amateur. Got the boss to think you had no clue what was going on before getting all that extortion info off her own computer. Not a bad sting there."

Fluttershy managed to rally all her courage. It wasn't much, but it was there. "W-What do you want?"

Sunset laughed, causing Fluttershy to flinch. Sunset waved her hand as if dismissing the pink-haired girl. "Nothing, just telling you I know." Sunset paused for a moment before snapping her fingers. "Actually, a bit of advice for if you want to try this again. Don't go eating the hay you sleep in. If you need to do something against someone giving you something, use a patsy. After all, it means sometimes you can get what you want even while they're ranting at you about whoever stuck the knife in their back." Sunset moved from the lockers, waving a hand behind her. "Just some food for thought, don't try it against me. I'd hate to have to mess up two people because one person got brave."

Fluttershy kept thinking about that. Sunset was normally so smart, even about subjects where she should be behind everybody by literal worlds she did well. History was literally completely foreign to her, and yet she still worked hard enough to get high grades. And if she needed something from Trixie she wouldn't bad-talk her in such a public setting. Even back when she was a full on bitch, Trixie was someone she only messed with if Trixie began acting out of line. It just didn't fit.

Fluttershy sighed and began looking through older posts, trying to find some thread that would answer why Sunset was doing this. She paused over a picture of Gilda helping fix some old mans car. For most students that would be a good thing, but Glida thrived with her bad-girl persona. Her good samaritan act was currently a running joke around the school. Fluttershy's eyes widened as it clicked. Sunset had mentioned in passing during one of the girls barely disguised interrogations. Gilda was firmly on her do-not-mess-with list. Gilda could get Sunset in trouble with all sorts of people she preferred to avoid. Fluttershy stared at the picture of Gilda with wide eyes. Her voice was barely a whisper. "It's not Sunset."

Fluttershy glanced at the time. She had planned on going for a long walk before meeting up with the rest of the Rainbooms at Sugarcube corner, but she had time for a detour. She began to jog down the street, getting to the nearest bus stop as she sent out a quick text message. Getting confirmation that her target was at home she checked the schedule. The next bus to the neighborhood she had in mind was in five minutes. She had a few hours before meeting up with the girls, so she could sit and wait.

The bus ride was fairly quick, and Fluttershy had spent the whole ride on Mystable. The more she looked at it the more sense it made. Sunset would never post things about such a random selection of people, it should’ve been more focused if she wanted anything but trouble. Some had multiple posts about them, while a few only had one or two. And as far as Fluttershy could tell, some of the people that had dirt spilled on them had barely interacted with Sunset. Some were even people Sunset liked, which was a rare thing indeed. Like Twist. Sunset could gush about Twist's progress in math after a tutoring session for hours, and consequently, she would never say anything to make Twist feel bad.

The bus reached a stop, and Fluttershy calmly exited, moving down the street with purpose. She reached a blue house she was familiar with and rang the doorbell. After a moment a blue-haired young man opened the door, and he nodded to her, speaking in a curt, yet polite tone of voice. "Flutters, what do you need?"

She paused, the sight of the goofy Flash Sentry looking at her without his normal grin making her realize just how strained the school really was. "I-I had a question, can you spare a minute?"

Flash nodded, and Fluttershy winced as he stepped out of the house. She had been in his house before. Back when she had been helping the cops with the animal shelter she would talk with his mom in their comfy living room. She could remember Flash smiling and encouraging her. In hindsight, it was obvious Sunset had figured out her actions through Flash. Of course, it was equally obvious that Flash was mad at Fluttershy since he didn't invite her in, despite the chilled air. "Uhm, do you think Sunset is Anon-A-Miss?"

This was it. Flash was the only student to really know how Sunset worked. He would tell people if they asked about it, but was adamant she had changed. Saying it was obvious if you knew her, so if this was actually Sunset, then he would know for sure. He let out a short breath before rolling his eyes. "Fluttershy. Only an idiot would think this was Sunset's work." Fluttershy flinched at the fact he insulted her to her face. Flash was many things, but to get him to actually talk bad about someone meant there wasn't just a fire under his ass. A fully fledged gate to Hell had appeared somewhere in the approximate area of his colon.

Flash leaned back into the wall, fishing around in his pocket. After a moment he pulled out a pack of cigarettes. After fumbling with a lighter he started smoking. "Sunset does her work well. If it was her work even I wouldn't be one-hundred percent sure. She likes to leave fingerprints. Never more than that, just enough that someone can think it's her, but never enough for anyone to be sure. Not enough to be, convicted, I suppose is the right word."

He tapped his pocket before taking a long drag. "And that profile isn't a fingerprint. It's a full-on neon sign. Plus all the intel is wrong. Sunset uses stuff that could get people in trouble. And even then she tried not to broadcast when people were doing the wrong things for the right reasons." Flash looked at Fluttershy for a solid thirty seconds, staring the wallflower down until she wilted. "Like you know. Sunset was in tears after she showed you those pictures a year ago. She wanted to make sure you knew to be wary if you tried doing things her way. She respected you."

Fluttershy blinked. "She... respected me?"

Flash nodded, taking another long drag. "Sunset's really bad with her emotions. She can bottle them all up, or let them all out. I mean, the whole school knows she has a temper, but she'll have some nights where she can't stop crying, or that she goes for a walk and doesn't show back up until school the next morning without any sleep. And whenever I asked about it she'd just say she went for a walk."

Flash finished off his smoke. Three hits. Fluttershy didn't pretend to know how smoking worked, but that seemed like far too short a time for a single smoke. Flash didn't even pause as he fished out another one. He grimaced as he pulled it out. "Sorry, it's a bad habit, but I need to be calm if I'm talking about this." Fluttershy didn't talk as he lit up another one, this time taking a much shorter hit. "Either way she always respected how open you were with your emotions. Even if you don't say what you were thinking, you wear it on your face. Sunset can't really do that, and you do it naturally, getting people to open up just by being yourself."

Fluttershy nodded, moving her gaze to the street. "So you don't think it's her either then?"

She heard his hair ruffle as Flash shook his head. "No way. I would talk to her about it, but she's avoiding me like the black plague."

Fluttershy snapped back to Flash. While she didn't participate in the local gossip mill, Rarity did. Frequent trips to a local spa had ensured Fluttershy stayed up to date. What Flash had just said was the opposite of what the school thought, and her questioning look was all Flash needed. "Yeah, I know. But honestly, after the Battle of the Bands, I wanted to talk to her. Our break up wasn't exactly easy. We both messed up a lot, and Sunset's been through the wringer. I'm not sure how much you know about her, but she was apparently an orphan. Lived with an aunt and uncle who only cared about their kid until something happened. Then the person she calls mom showed up. She was really cagey about it, but I got a few details. Details that aren't my place to share, mind you. Just know it’s bad."

Flash took another quick hit on his smoke, looking at it with a frown. "Either way she learned how to manipulate people there, and with her upbringing, even with a mother figure she idolizes she got the wrong idea about people. She saw every relationship as a series of debt and debtor. You either owed someone, or they owed you. I don't know why, but it's part of why she was so ruthless. I was just starting to see how good she could be when we broke up, which was probably about as much my fault as Sunset's."

Fluttershy looked at Flash in confusion. She didn't know any of this, and she couldn't understand it. She had talked to Sunset about family before, but it was never really explained, or mentioned if she thought about it. Flash saw Fluttershy's look and smirked, his first show of emotion to Fluttershy during his talk. "She never told you huh? Yeah, unless you ask specifically she tends not to talk about it." He shrugged, blowing a small smoke ring before poking it with a finger. "She doesn't mind so much if she needs to talk. Then there's the fact that she talks in her sleep. That gave me a few facts that only made sense once I found out she was from a whole universe away. But the point is Sunset only shares like what she thinks she should. And this whole Anon-A-Miss thing is so obviously a frame job, that’s it’s gotten to the point where I'm only showing up at school to try and talk to her."

Fluttershy paused. Thinking back she couldn't remember a time any of the girls asked Sunset about her life before Canterlot High. A thought crashed into her head, and she gasped slightly. "Flash, where does Sunset live?"

Flash grimaced. "You never asked her?" He looked at Fluttershy with a raised eyebrow, and his expression darkened when she shook her head. He took a long drag from his smoke, expelling it through his nose. "Great, don't ask the interdimensional refugee whether she has a roof over her head or not." He shook his head. "She has an apartment where the landlord doesn't ask questions. But its rough. She has a fair few scars from her time before I met her, and she gained a few while we were dating. But she's not likely to freeze or starve." He paused, looking towards the factories in the distance. "At least I hope not. I still have no clue how she makes money."

Fluttershy winced but had a final question. One that might shed some more light on just how little she knew about Sunset. "You never really said why Sunset was avoiding you."

Flash furrowed his brow, causing the skin above his nose to crinkle. "Yeah." He finished off his cigarette, tossing the butts of both into the flowerpot beside him. "Sunset can't deal with stuff when it goes totally against her plan. She was prepared for me breaking up with her. She wasn't prepared for it to be a text while she was getting ready for a date. It was a dick move, I know. I didn't really have a good reason, just got tired of the looks that people gave me whenever we walked together. I don't know for sure, but I think that she thinks she messed up. Big time. And after that, I couldn't get ahold of her. My calls and texts wouldn't get delivered, and she would disappear whenever I approached her." Flash reached behind him, opening the door. "Look, I hope you got what you needed, but me and the guys are playing at that charity thing tonight, so I gotta get ready."

Fluttershy nodded. "Okay, we are too so I should probably go too..." As Flash turned Fluttershy reached out, grabbing Flash's sleeve. He paused, looking at her while she looked in his eyes. He noticed how wet her eyes seemed. "Flash... do you think Sunset can ever forgive us if the rest of the girls figure out it's not her?" Flash looked to Fluttershy for a moment, chewing his lip. Eventually, he simply shrugged. And with that he pulled away, closing the door behind him.

Author's Note

Edited by Kitkataddel posted 1/22/19