Sunset walked through the darkened bowels of her previous school. She could not help but start to cry every now and again as something she walked by set off old memories that she would rather not remember anymore. But when all you can do is relive all your past memories, what can you really do to get away? is there ever truly an escape from one's own mind? Would she ever be free of this curse?
‘Damn Twilight and her magic powers’ She thought as she continued. ‘Oh yeah, she only had those powers because I had the audacity to believe I was special. No matter how you spin this one, its all on me. I did this. All on my own.’
The halls stretched on for what seemed like forever, but at last, she came to her old classroom… The classroom where They would be… Could she face them now? Had she proven her worthy of having such interactions? Her hand clutched the door. The bell had rung ages ago, but Sunset had made a habit of coming in late, so the teacher certainly would not be surprised when the door opened to show Sunset had arrived.
Ms. Luna looked to the door, almost expectantly as it creaked open. Sure enough, the small form of Sunset Shimmer appeared, though she did not appear to be okay. Given her circumstances, Ms. Luna dared not press her. She simply nodded as Sunset made her way to her seat next to her new ‘friends’ (could she really call them that yet? She had just spent the last two years trying to destroy them, nearly killed them too, yet here they were with open arms.) Sunset approached the whole friendship thing with much trepidation at first, but after a few months, she felt more comfortable with the idea of having people she could trust.
That class came and went and her other classes were much the same. As she walked off the schoolyard, someone grabbed her hand; holding her back from leaving. She turned around and shrunk back, expecting a punch or something to hit her. When nothing came, she opened her eyes, removed her hands from her face, and looked up from her fetal position to see five people in front of her looking at her. Twilight reached out her hand. Sunset rolled over and pushed herself off the ground and looked at them. She had pondered long enough, time to just come out and say it now. “whydoyouwanttohelpme?” she said, grasping Applejack by the shoulders. Applejack flinched, but when she saw Sunset practically break down in front of her, she just held her and said “what was that, sugarcube. I can’t hear you?” Sunset stared at the group and caught her breath, though she was acutely aware of the flinch. She knew they did not fully trust her, but they were trying and in the end, that’s all she could ever really ask of them. She repeated herself, a little louder this time. “Why? Why help me? What is in it for you?” She sounded confused. They looked at her, unsure of how to respond. Not waiting for an answer, afraid of what she might hear, she ran off into the streets, assuming their silence was their answer.
They found Sunset curled up behind some garbage cans in a back alley near the schoolyard. She was wearing her usual skirt and leather jacket, but this was no weather for that kind of attire. The weatherman called for one of the coldest non-snow days in the last thirty years and the rest of the week showing more of the same. They approached Sunset, scared she might be dead. Rainbow Dash got to her first, and being as brash as she is, immediately shook Sunset by the shoulders vigorously; though it was surprisingly gentle considering her strength. Applejack and the others approached soon after and Applejack slapped Rainbow in the back of the head. “You could at least make sure she is alive before you decide to give her a heart attack.” She said. They heard Sunset mumbling. Her eyes opened slowly, “five more minutes, Luna.” Hearing the assistant principle’s name surprised the group, was that who she had been staying with all this time? They had all assumed she had a place to go; if they had known she was homeless, they would have offered for her to stay at their places more often. Though they knew she would not be too hasty to accept. They did not realize just how much their sleepovers meant to Sunset. And to think that they had believed Sunset could hurt them. They were more than friends in her eyes. They were Family.
Sunset did not know what she had said in her haze, but she felt herself be picked up and carried toward a building. It looked familiar. Then it hit her, she had passed out just outside the schoolyard. She started hearing the voices of her ‘captors,’ after a while recognizing them to be her ‘friends’. As she finally regained full control of her body, she looked around. She was in the nurse’s office at Canterlot High. Sure enough, her five friends were at her bedside waiting for her; worry clearly written on all of their faces. “What happened?” she asked, still groggy from the experience and unsure exactly what was going on. The five all spoke over each other, but she managed to hear bits and pieces and put together that they had found her out cold in the back alley of the school. Knowing full well that her hiding place had been compromised, she raised her hands, defeated. “Alright, you win. I have no home. Since I got here, I have been living in the old abandoned factory on the other side of town. It was one of the only places with running water and electric.” Her friends were speechless. They all had their theories all along why Sunset never wanted them to walk her home or visit her, but this was totally unexpected.
