Winter had come to Canterlot. The entire city was covered in a light snow blanket, turning everything a soft and uniform white. Christmas was only ten days ahead, and everywhere you looked decorations transformed buildings and shops in colourful little lakes of light. Traffic lessened within the snow-filled streets, replaced in many with young children playing in the snow. It was the Monday of the week before christmas, for many the last week of work or school to be done.

It was Monday, and Sunset was already so done with the entire week. So fucking done, already!

And the day wasn’t even halfway over.

This had to do with the simple fact that the entire High School was currently turning on itself. The entire student-body was falling apart like a bunch of starved animals. Students who were once greatest friends broke into arguments and seperated themselves in the span of a few days.

Greatest friends.

Just like the Rainbooms.

This time, the cause of all this turmoil and disharmony wasn’t magic or years of careful manipulation and deceit.

No, it was all because of a fucking social media website.

An account on MyStable that had made a habit of posting secret pictures and more from the CHS students. The effect was immediate and really, really effective.

It had started on thursday the week before. From then on, posts had appeared on a regular basis.

Now, on monday, the entire school was slowly destroying itself because it it.

The first posts had been, relatively, harmless. Centered mainly around the members of the group known as the Rainbooms. Except Sunset Shimmer conviently. It had been mostly embarrassing pictures or small secrets, like Applejacks childhood nickname.

Over the weekend however, it quickly expanded to the rest of the student body, and the posts became even more mean, some could only be described as brutal, if only because of the results they caused.

For most students, CHS became something akin to a warzone since monday.

For Sunset Shimmer, it became Tartarus on Earth. Not because there were posts targeting her. Quite the opposite.

For three years Sunset had been the Queen Bee of CHS, ruling over everyone with an iron fist. She had turned them all on eachother with blackmail, threats and carefull manipulation. Everybody remembered this well.

Everybody knew the fact that Sunset had tried to take control of them, first with manipulation, then with magic.

And now, everybody knew this fact.

Sunset Shimmer had returned to her old ways.

Everbody knew she was behind all this mess, again.

Everybody knew that Sunset Shimmer was Anon-a-Miss.

And her friends? They were the first to commit to this new believe, simply cutting off their friendship even before the first bell had rung on monday. All of this because of some petty secrets thrown out by some internet persona.

It was so ironic that Sunset felt the need to laugh about herself, but sadly her sides hurt too much to do that.

Someone had slammed her into the lockers on her way to the next lesson. Not that hard, but it was painful nonetheless. Sunset wasn’t sure who did it, basically everyone either gave her hateful glares, worse or just coldly ignored her. If she were to guess though, it would be Lightning Dust, since she had rounded the corner rather fast and one of the latest posts had been about her.

Luckily that had been the first real physical attack on her, for now. By the current rate things were falling down though, she already dreaded what could happen until Friday.

And she would have to face it all on her own, since…

Well…

If Sunset was honest, her break-up with the Rainbooms had been worse than everything she experienced since then and before, even though it had been rather civil. At least they didn’t call her a she-demon. Yet. Instead they had simply left her, standing in the school corridors, surrounded by the first students who cast hateful glares and words at her.

"Ah honestly thought y’all changed, really Ah did. But it seems like we were wrong.“

"After all we did together? You just turn back to this? I thought we were supposed to be friends, Sunset!“

"Darling, this has gone too far already. What are you trying to achieve by doing something so petty?“

"Why would you suddenly do this Sunset? Why now?“

It wasn’t like she did not plead with them. Or tried to explain why she wouldn’t have done it. But to no awail. Applejack's nickname went public only hours after she herself had heard about it, while having a sleepover with the others on Wednesday. The same had happened with pictures of Rarity’s clothing failures collection or whatever she called them. There were made with Sunset’s phone and ta-da!

Online only two hours after their creation.

Well, it wasn’t like she couldn’t understand why they reacted like this.

She had tormented them all in some cruel way, for three years.

Even if she was so obviously being framed, with the matching colours of the profile pic, the choice of words under each picture and the before-mentioned first posts, they wouldn’t believe her.

Some wounds went too deep and were too fresh to allow rational thougths.

It didn’t help that some posts contained secrets that Sunset had gathered in her time as Queen Bitch of CHS. And the students they belonged to recognized them as such, after already being blackmailed with them. Those were also usually the worst of the secrets to be spread.

And it all came back down on Sunset.

Karma really seemed to be an utter Bitch. Just like she herself had been.

Sunset was never really good with human history. For a long time she had trouble understanding the concept of a cold war. Decades of human history had been marked by the shadow of all out war and doom for the entire planet, two powers ready to jump at eachothers throat. Just waiting for a small slip-up, one reason to rip each other to shreds.

The CHS cafeteria, seemed to be a somewhat fitting example.

The tension was unbearable. Several small groups tried to ignore most of the ongoing conflicts, to weather the storm and pull through break. Others seemed to wait for the next bit of juicy gossip to be shared, like predators looking for any weakness in a herd of cattle.

Of course, there were some conflicts already happening. The, so-called, flower-girls were having an argument. From the looks of it, another group of friends was dying... supplied by the taunting applause and taunts from the vultures that surrounded the trio. And anyone could be next.

Sunset sat alone in one of the corners, the one nearest to the entrance to be exact.

It was Tuesday now. Just like expected, the school's situation had gotten even worse.

Sunset’s tactic was simply to get through the remaining week by means of simply enduring it. Then she could try and ask Twilight if she may spend the holidays in Equestria. Although she was pondering the, hopefully viable, solution of just leaving Terra mid-week.

By now Sunset was beginning to prefer the prospect of facing Celestia over this.

A collective ping, and a closely following cry broke her train of thoughts. Another post from Anon-a-Miss. By the sound not a good one.

Sunset sighed and checked her phone. She was starting to consider simply leaving it deactivated at home. The contacts to each of the Rainbooms had been blocked, by them, for now, and MyStable was nothing but more secrets and hateful messages. There were even public chats filled with people insutling her.

This time, Anon-a-Miss had outdone themself. In a very bad way.

The picture was of a gruesome good quality. You were perfectly able to see Octavia Melody’s drunken face, as she pressed a kiss on her partner’s lipps, Vinyl Scratch. There were coming out of one of Canterlot’s bars alongside their friends, a few bottles still in hand. They were obviously in different states of drunkeness. They looked happy.

Sunset groaned. This was bad.

A glance towards the newest victim confirmed her prediction. Octavia looked absolutely devastating, before rushing out of the cafeteria through the side entrance. Her friend Bon Bon was quick to follow her. Vinyl didn’t look any better, although she gave Sunset a very unsettling death glare.

While the overall reaction to this new post was nothing more than a lot of whistles and stupid phrases, Octavia’s friends knew the hard truth. Sunset did as well, it was the very reason she had used it for blackmail after all.

Octavia’s parents were wealthy and conservative. They actually reminded Sunset of the Equestrian nobility. The bad kind. Now that this little piece of gossip was made official, it was simply a matter of time until it reached Mr. and Mrs. Melody. And then, Tartarus would come for Octavia.

It wouldn’t just be the fact that Octavia had kissed another girl, oh no. It was that Octavia had been drunk, leaving a club, while practically clinging and kissing another girl. Vinyl Scratch of all people. From all that Sunset knew, the Melody parents would never accept the fact that their daughter was with a mute musician from lower upbringing, especially a DJ of the modern times.

When Sunset had confronted Octavia with the photo, she had been surprised by the formal girl‘s absolute horrified expression, and Sunset had known the gist about her parents and their view on things. She just didn’t imagine it could have been that bad.

Not like she had cared a lot back then.

Sunset sighed and stood up, bringing her halfway-filled tray back and leaving the cafeteria as quickly as possible.

She just hoped that Octavia would survive the impending meeting with her parents.

The rest of Tuesday seemed to blurr together for Sunset, it was just more of the same. Glares, shoves, hateful words snapped at her. More arguments she had to pass by. Nothing special. Nothing important, not anymore.

That was why she wasn’t prepared for her locker.

Someone had actually managed to break into it. Either that or they knew her code, somehow.

All her books, materials, even her winter coat, everything had suffered. Dirt and litter filled the space. Paper had been torn, some even looked slightly burned. Her schoolbooks had lost their covers, the pages were unreadable. The coat had been torn in multiple places, one arm was missing, and the pockets were full of… Whatever it was, it smelled horrible.

Sunset just stood there for a couple of minutes, not able to fully comprehend the scene. The locker door, which already had sported several scribblings was now covered in every single spot.

She-Demon

Anon-a-Bitch

Fuck off!

Monster

YOU DESTROYED EVERYTHING!

What made Sunset snapp out of her state of shock was the realization that she had left her magic journal in the locker. Rushing forward she desperately tried to find it or atleast some leftover in the pile, not caring for the smell or the dirt.

But the book was nowhere to be found.

When Sunset realized what this meant, that her journal, a gift from Celestia and her only connection to home was indeed lost, she stopped.

The first tears started to form in her eyes, and she couldn’t muster the will to hold them back. Her body went numb and she slumbed down on the floor.

After an uncertain amount of time, she finally stood up. The hallways were mostly empty now, almost everyone had gone by, no one had even tried to help her.

And so, Sunset made her way towards her small apartment, without her coat or her books, without her journal. Through the snow and the cold.

She couldn’t talk to Twilight anymore.

The portal would stay closed.

The only person she could consider a friend was now unreachable.

Sunset was now truly alone.

Fluttershy coudn’t sleep.

No matter what she did, all the usual methods she had tried, nothing.

That image was simply burned into her mind and she couldn’t stop thinking about it.

Angel had already relocated after she had accidentally hit him for the third time. It must have been hours since she went to bed and still no signs of sleep.

Fluttershy didn’t want to take sleeping pills, she didn’t trust them, but slowly she lost her mind.

That sound haunted her. Made her stomach wrench.

When she pressed her eyes shut she could still see it, see her. See Sunset before her, that look of defeat in her eyes, tears streaming down her cheeks. Her belongings destroyed and covered in dirt and garbage.

Fluttershy snapped her eyes open. And SHE had just walked away.

Now the guilt was eating her alive.

Fluttershy tossed and turned over in her bed again.

She should have helped Sunset, even just by comforting her. Sunset had been completely alone, without anyone to hold onto. Fluttershy shouldn’t have just walked away, she should have…

No.

Sunset didn’t deserve her comfort, she was Anon-a-Miss, she was responsible for all of this.

Or was she really?

Sunset before her, that look of defeat in her eyes, tears streaming down her cheeks.

Fluttershy groaned again and clutched her head, desperately trying to force the image out of her head.

Her belongings destroyed and covered in dirt and garbage.

She put her arm around her mouth, stiffling a pained whimper.

And she had done nothing.

Pain shot through her body. The image seemed to vanish from her mind, enough that she could think clearly again. Slowly, Fluttershy opened her eyes again, to see where this pain had come from. She found the answer almost immediately

Her teeth had somehow burrowed themselves into her left arm. Luckily the bite wasn’t that deep, but it still hurt and a bit of blood began to escape her body.

Fluttershy got up and stumbled into her private bathroom, where she kept most of her first aid components. After taking care of the small wound she sat on her bed again, unsure what to do now. If she tried to sleep the images would return and she would go mad.

So she picked up her phone and dialed.

"I do hope you know how early it is.“ A tired and clearly bed-ridden voice asked through the phone.

"S-Sorry Rarity. I-I need to talk to you.“

"Fluttershy?“ A yawn went through the connection. „What is it darling, can’t you sleep?“

Fluttershy clenched her free fist nervously, she was already feeling uncomfortable but this was important. "U-Um yes. Well… I can’t stop thinking about… You know, S-sunset.“

"Oh dear. I know how that must make you feel, this whole affair is simply disastrous!“

"W-well, that was what I-I wanted to talk about.“

"I wish I could understand her Fluttershy, I really do! But why she would just go and start this, it is beyond me-“

"SHE DIDN’T DO IT!“ Fluttershy immediately covered her mouth with her free hand and listened. No movement in the house. Everything, even her phone, was silent. "I-I mean, I d-don’t think s-she did.“

"H-How so dear? I mean, it is not like I want her to be it but… Everything points towards her, doesn’t it?“

"Y-yes but, why would she decide to do it now? NOW of all times. I… I don’t know Rarity.“, Fluttershy said whilst trying to stop her body from shaking. "This just feels wrong. This IS wrong and I know it.“

There was another silence. Only Rarity’s controlled breathing made it through the phone.

"I saw her, today, at the end of school. I saw her Rarity! All her things were destroyed, and her locker was broken open a-and… She was crying. She just sat there, completely still and yet she was crying so much. H-how can she have caused this when she has to suffer this?“

Her body trembled like a leaf in the wind. Tears of her own formed against her will, and she let them go without resistance. When Rarity spoke again her own voice was filled with sadness and something else, regret.

"Oh Fluttershy, I am so sorry.“

"So, do you believe me?“

There was another short pause before the answer.

"Yes, I… I do believe you and what you said dear.“ Rarity gave a sad chuckle. „We have all been such blind fools, haven’t we? We gave a promise to Twilight, yet we threw Sunset away at the first slight possibility that she might cause harm again. We just abandod her when she needed us most.“

"W-we have to speak to her Rarity!“ Fluttershy said with new determination. „First thing tomorrow, we will seek her out and tell her that we are sorry, that we don’t believe she is Anon-a-Miss, and we are going to help her stand through this!“

"Well said, darling, truly well said. But please do me a favor and try to get some rest, okay? You will need it for tomorrow. We all will.“

After giving Rarity her promise, Fluttershy ended the call and stared at the cealing for an entire minute.

Yes, tomorrow she would help Sunset no matter what, even if the whole school would harass her for it. She owed it to Sunset.

Surprisingly, Fluttershy actually managed to sleep, although the images still haunted her minds.

But she could bear them now.

Monday had been bad.

Tuesday was even worse.

But Wednesday was already topping it all.

Sunset hadn’t even arrived at the school before the first incident happened. Someone had tagged her apartment door with red paint.

She-Demon inside!!!

The day before she had almost sunken into some kind of depression. Now she was just angry at everything.

On the way to school, a car had stopped beside her for a short moment, which was enough time for one of the passengers to lung a plastic sack filled with something at her. It had exploded on impact, covering her with brackish water. Then the car drove away, leaving her soaked and stinking on the pavement.

Luckily for Sunset, this had happened only a couple of blocks from her apartment, meaning she just stormed back, changed her clothes and started the walk to school again.

This of course resulted in her being late, something Sunset actually didn’t mind.

As she passed the Wondercolt mascot, several snowballs suddenly flew towards her, and more than half of them found their target. Sunset gasped as her faces received two projectiles and exploded in pain. She could see the shards of ice and small rocks on the ground that had been mixed with the snow projectiles.

The attackers had already scurried away from where ever they had started the assault.

Sunset carefully touched her face. It hurt like a bitch, but no blood seemed to leak out.

Still, those small assaults started to wear more and more on her mind. And the day continued to spiral down even more as school started. Of course Sunset was late, not that she cared at this point.

The hallways were as unbearable as they always were. More than once, Sunset was shoved into the hard rows of metal lockers. The pain only further fueled her anger, just like the insults thrown at her. Between her first and second period while she was trying to get through the corridors, Sunset thought she had heard a familiar voice call her name.

But she just brushed it of as her imagination running wild, especially since it had sounded like Rarity. She still accelerated to get to her next period, her thoughts returning to the Rainbooms before she willed them to stop.

As second period ended, Sunset mind had slowly started to boil. Someone had thrown a wet sponge at her and now her jacket had chalkdust clinging onto it.

Even though the memory agravated her temper even further, the destruction of her school material spared her the trip to the locker, which meant less time needed to be spent in the hallways.

Sunset was currently spearheading towards the library, she had a free period now. Her mind slowly started to calm down a bit as she looked foward to the well-kept silence between books.

"Sunset! We need to talk to you!“

Of course! I can’t have a little respite today, can I? No, everybody just is so keen to piss me of today!

Sunset walked even faster towards her goal, the library, her only chance for a break. She could hear the person behind her calling her name again, and again. But still she pressed onward, trying to get away from them, away from everyone.

Only two more hallways! Almost…

As she rounded a corner, Sunset saw herself confronted with the distinct frame of Gilda Grimfeather before her.

For a moment, Sunset was stunned by Gilda’s visage, anger and rage clearly visable. Then Gilda moved, sinking her fist into the amber-skinned girl’s abdomen with enough force to completely knock the air out of Sunset’s lungs.

Sunset snapped for precious oxygen, her mind thrown of entirely, and so she couldn’t perceive two hands moving on her hips. After only a few seconds, those hands withdrew, only for Gilda’s knee to jump upwards straight into the other girl’s guts. Sunset fell foward onto all four, just as another kick sent her into the wall. A loud crack echoed through the hallway and Gilda stomped off.

The rest of the Students had just watched the violence unfold before them, certainly shocked but not ready to step in.

Finally, Sunset got herself together enough to try to stand up, only for her boots to emit a crunching sound. As she lifted her foot away to see what she stepped on, Sunset could make out the remains of her phone. Its glass facade was everywhere and the hardware broken beyond repair.

Sunset’s face betrayed almost no emotion, but her insides were on fire in more than one sense. Her lungs were straining to properly fill themself with much needed air. All the sore places, from all the received shoves into metal lockers, the spots where the ice shards had hit her, her entire body had flared up again in pain. Ironically, her mind was rather devoid of any thought or emotion. In this moment, only her instict was active. Like a voice telling her to move towards the library and thus safety from any further harm. And her body actually managed to act and get a few more steps closer to her sanctuary.

"Sunset! Are you ok?!“ Fluttershy shouted as she came to a halt besides the Equestrian, reaching out with an arm to steady her.

As soon as her fingertips made contact with the other girl however, something inside of Sunset changed drastically. Her instinct, the small soft voice that had urged her body to ignore the pain and move on, was overpowered by rage.

Pure, unbrideled rage.

"Will you FUCK OFF!“ Sunset’s hand slapped the offered hand away. Meanwhile, Rarity had managed to reach them through the growing crowd of bystanders who watched the events passively.

"Sunset, please, listen to us for a moment!“, she begged the pony she had once considered a friend.

But this only seemed to aggravate Sunset even more.

"Really?! I have to LISTEN to YOU now?! I don’t remember you listening to ME when I pleaded for it.“

Sunset tried to walk away from her former bandmates, towards the library. Her stomach churned and her head suddenly felt like it was torn apart and pressed together at the same time. As Sunset stumbled foward, Fluttershy and Rarity were quickly by her side and managed to steady her.

"Easy, Darling! Lets get you to the library.“, Rarity said as they attempted to help the other girl foward.

"I don’t need your help.“ Came Sunset’s slurred response. "Fuck off.“

But still they helped her move foward, through the crowd of students. Expressions of disgust, anger and morbid curiosity looked at Sunset, their eyes felt like needles drilling into her skull. Her field of view narrowed down in front of her, growing dark all around.

The constant whisper filled her ears. Then the sea of faces seemed to part, and at the end was the goal. The library. They were so close, only one corridor away from some sort of peace.

Suddenly, Sunset’s brain convulsed, her skin felt unbearibly hot, her dazed mind became sharp once more and adrenaline pulsed at rapid speed through her veins. Much like before her entire body went from numb to tense, only this time it was even more extreme.

Pain and anger flared up in tandem, even greater than before. The red-head instantly pulled backwards and ripped herself out of Rarity’s and Fluttershy’s arms.

The fashionista was the first to recover, she turned and raised her hands in a placatory gesture.

"Please Sunset, we are almost there. Just a few more steps and you will be safe, I promise.“

Sunset snapped her head towards Rarity. Her voice was starting to crack under the strain it suffered. "You PROMISE? Like the promise you gave Twilight? How long did that last before you decided to abandon be?! After I did everything to redeem myself, you just cut me off like this. Tell me one, ONE good reason, why I should trust you?“

Rarity opened her mouth then immediately closed it again. Fluttershy just gave a sad, yet pleeding smile. For a moment silence reigned in the corridor, the other students had formed a sort of half cycle around the three girls and none dared to interrupt the heated exchange.

Throughout the silence, only Sunset’s heavy breathing could be heard.

"That's it? No lecture of friendship, no remark on our happy memories?“ As Sunset took breath to continue her rant, something happened inside her. A feeling, uncomfortable and strange filled her in seconds. All the rage that she had felt moments before faded away. In its stead, an almost electric sensation jolted throughout every nerve. It wasn't as bad as the pain, which had passed in the background to nothing more than a throbbing.

This change didn’t go unnoticed on the people around her.

"Darling, are you alright? You look a bit-“ But as she tenderly reached out with her hand, it was almost immediately snapped away.

"D-don’t you DARLING me, Rarity. If no one has anything else to say, j-just leave me alone already.“

"Sunset…“

"W-WHAT?!“

As Sunset snapped towards Futtershy, the timid girl pointed a small, shaking finger at her.

"Y-you’re b-bl-bleeding.“

Indeed, a singular droplet of deep crimson liquid trickled out of the red head’s nose. Before it reached her mouth, it was intercepted by an amber hand. Sunset just looked at the stain. Her eyes rose to the other two girls, her bloodied finger raised as if to say something to them.

Then she suddenly lurched over in a coughing fit, one of her hands holding her stomach while the other covered the mouth.

Time seemed to freeze. Slowly, blood began to seep out between the fingers.

"S-Sunset?“

No response came, as the girl went limp, and fell to the ground.

"SUNSET!!“

And the hallway descended into chaos.

Fluttershy immediately rushed foward, Rarity close behind her. After several seconds of shock, a couple of students began running towards the principal’s office. Another one slammed open the door to the library and started searching for Miss Cherilee. One of the female students, who had just yelled at others to go get help, pulled out her phone and started typing the emergency number. Others were backing away from the center, while most were still in shock. Rarity didn’t perceive anything of it. Her eyes were glued at the horrific sight before her.

Sunset Shimmer was surrounded by a crimson puddle, her own blood seemingly mixing with her hair, leaving only a few strands of gold in a sea of red, as if by cruel design. Her limbs were racked by spasms, her body convulsing uncontrollably in painful movements. Blood painted her face, spilling from her wide open mouth, flowing out of her nose and her ears in constant streams, leaking out from her eyes like crimson tears, all adding up onto the floor. No word, no scream escaped her, just choked moans and gurgles. Her mind was ablaze, a burning divide splitting it into two.

She couldn’t feel the hands trying to hold her stable.

Couldn’t see Rarity’s face, pale and shocked.

Couldn’t hear Fluttershy yelling her name, repeatedly.

Only pain.

Only crimson.

Only... herself.

-oOo-

As the school came to a close for the day, the students began to filter out. A strange atmosphere reigned over them like dark storm clouds. No one was happy in any way. Those who had witnessed the accident had to recount it to others and before the next break had even started, everyone knew what had happened.

Some where more struck by it then others, but to the benefit of the student body, nobody was satisfied with what happened to the hated girl.

Among the students who made their way home were the Rainbooms. Applejack, Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie were still attempting to comfort the other two girls, while trying to process the news themselves. Rarity couldn’t stop shaking, while Fluttershy needed to rely on Rainbow to walk in a straight line.

"So… What should we do now?“ Pinkie asked uncertain, her usual smile vacant and her hair a mixture between bubbly and completely flat.

"No idea.“ Rainbow mumured. "Maybe visit her in the hospital? Its not far from here, just on the other side of the Everfree River."

"I-I don’t think s-she would w-ant to see u-us.“ Fluttershy clung to her friend as if her life depended on it. A small tear trickled down her cheek as memories of what happened came up again.

"I... I agree with Rainbow. We let her down so far, and yes she is still hating us for that, but we need to be there for her. We owe her this much atleast." Rarity said, clutching her hands together to hold them still, while looking her friends in the eyes. Rainbow gave a strained grimace, yet her eyes also held determination. Beside her, Fluttershy wiped her face clean, trying to hold herself steady. Pinkie managed to produce a small smile. "Maybe we can make things right again," she whispered.

"Eh, girls?!“ The rest of the group looked to Applejack, who pointed to something on the other side of road. A police car. Two officers had already crossed the street and were approaching the school building.

Through its doors, Principal Celestia rushed out and hurried towards the two policemen, a worried look on her face.

"I really, really hope they have good news.“ Rainbow said, although she didn’t look like she really believed it herself.

The officers and the principal met, while the Rainbooms and other students were carefully walking closer. One of the policeman took of his uniform hat and said a few quiet words to Celestia.

"Oh no, p-please no.“

Author's Note

So...

I had somethin' cooking for a while

What do you think?

Don't worry it won't be that for the entire story. Next chapter is probably next week or so, from then on I have to see how fast I can make them.

I hope you enjoyed this beginning (even if it is rather downtrodden and dark) and may even stick around for the rest.
Criticism would be appreciated.

Toodles!