Sunset grabbed her backpack by the top handle and quickly unzipped the top. Sitting inside was a small yellow wrapped box, with a tight pink ribbon. Being Fluttershy's secret Santa was the easiest gift exchange she could have possibly hoped for. She was just talking about not having enough money to get makeup for herself after buying pet supplies for the shelter. This should cover her for a few months.
With a quick zip, Sunset had the backpack on and her hand on the door knob. As she opened the door, the icy chill of winter blasted directly onto her exposed arms. She pushed it closed and slipped off the backpack.
“Of course I forgot a coat,” she muttered under her breath. “I knew I was forgetting something.”
She opened the closet and instinctively reached for her winter coat. Her hand grasped a hanger and she pulled.
A reflexive yelp escaped her mouth as she dropped the coat to the ground.
There, wilted in a pile, was an old black leather jacket. She had dozens. Each with their own various unique qualities and special decorations. Some had short sleeves. Some had orange stripes on the shoulder.
But this jacket sat in the back for a reason.
It had silver, nearly heavy metal studs pressed into the collar, long sleeves, and pockets that were way too small to hold anything of value. It also generated heat like it was a blistering summer day. But none of those were the reasons why she reacted so viciously.
This was her bullying jacket.
It sat there on the ground, memories in her head of cornering Princess Twilight with a sledgehammer, destroying her school, and other deep regrets bubbling to the surface as she looked at the simple garment laying on the ground. A relic of her former self.
She reached down and picked it up one more time.
It felt wrong in her hands. Gross. Unclean.
“Why do I still have this,” she mumbled aloud.
If she were truly honest, she had forgotten it was there. But long had the days passed where people feared her very existence. She was a changed woman. She had friends. Surely this jacket didn’t mean anything. Didn’t it?
But the more she thought on it, the taste of acid washed the back of her mouth. Holding this in her hands felt wrong.
“Maybe the girls will know what to do.”
She tossed the jacket on her bag, opted for a zip-up black hoodie, reclaimed her things, then pushed out the door into the gently falling snow.
The snow fell slowly, but steadily through the near-deserted streets of town. Sunset looked down as her prints left tracks in the snow behind her. In her hands she held her jacket, which felt scorching to her skin. While the fabric was light, she felt as if she were carrying the weight of a thousand sins. Her breath left thin trails of vapor in the air as she passed street after street on the way to Rainbow’s place.
“Maybe I should throw it away,” she whispered to herself. “What if some sort of magic leached into the jacket and is making me… feel this way.”
She looked up, taking in the view of the various lights of the shops dimming and the signs changing to closed. The only light that kept her pathway visible was from the occasional streetlight overhead.
“It’s just a jacket,” Sunset said to herself. “It doesn’t have power over me. The past me doesn’t define who I am.”
She smiled to herself, thinking about all the things that had just happened this year. In fact, just this summer they had learned how to really make use of their powers at Summer Camp. She was a new, changed person. She had the power to help people. She had helped people.
This jacket was nothing.
She snickered to herself.
“This is nothing. I don’t know why I-”
Then, she smelled something off. Just faint enough. Just different enough to make her realize something wasn’t right.
She looked to her right, and here, sitting in the doorway of a building for sale was a girl who couldn’t have been much more than her age. Sunset stopped in her tracks.
The girl was huddled up into herself under a blanket with a rather large tear in it. Underneath the holes she could see a gray —which might have been white— t-shirt and pajama pants which had lost their fuzz and bright hue a long time ago. While her hair was tied back into a sleek, greasy pony-tail, it’s knots and split ends were held together with a rubber band. To her side, an old kidnergardener’s backpack. Underneath her, a piece of cardboard which was beginning to disappear under the drifting snow.
Sunset’s breath caught in her throat.
Memories burst into her mind’s eye of emerging on the other side of the human portal. No family to care for her on day one.
She was lucky. Things changed. Things got better.
Sunset stepped forward. She didn’t consciously know what she was doing, but she felt the jacket in her hands. It was warm. It was there for her at a time even when she was misguided. Even when times were tough.
“Excuse me,” Sunset said.
The girl looked up. She remained silent.
“Would you like this?” she asked, holding out the coat in her hands.
The homeless girl reflexively shied away from her outstretched arm. Then, carefully, she reached out an arm. The girl took the coat carefully, defensively. Sunset grazed her finger on one of the girl's. Instantly, images and pictures filled her mind, feeling her powers activate.
A faceless young girl in the mirror. Two screaming voices in the background. One Male. One Female. She opens the window, wondering when they will notice. If they’ll notice.
The coat is pulled from Sunset’s hands.
“Thank you,” she mumbled weakly.
Tears stream down from Sunset’s eyes. The world around her felt as if it came crashing down. She wanted to hug the girl. She wanted to give her everything in her pockets. She wanted to bring her a bowl of food and offer her a place to stay.
But Sunset pulled back as the girl slipped on her coat.
That wouldn’t fix this girl’s life.
She couldn’t fix this girl’s life.
“I hope…” Sunset said. “Things get better.”
The girl nodded and turned her head back to the empty shop. “It’s just nice to feel a little warm.”
Sunset nodded to herself and looked down to her feet.
What could she say? What could she do to make this truly better?
She took a step, then kept walking to her friends home, deep in thought.
As she opened the door to Rainbow Dash’s home, she could already hear the air filled with laughter and gossip. Twilight stepped out of the living room to see who arrived.
“Sunset!” she said happily, but her joy turned to concern when Sunset met her gaze. “Is everything alright?”
Sunset paused and looked up to her friend.
“Do you know of any soup kitchens or homeless shelters nearby that need volunteers?” she asked.
Twilight shook her head.
“Why?”
Sunset looked to her nearly new black zip-up hoodie and her designer boots that Rarity helped pick out.
“I just feel like… I don’t know. I just feel… so small. Like, I need to do something. That no matter how many times we save the day we aren’t really making a difference. And we could just… just...”
Twilight stepped forward and pressed her hand to her friend’s shoulder.
“I’m sure we can find something. I bet all of us can join you too.”
Sunset smiled and looked into her living room of friends.
“That would mean… a lot. You won’t believe the experience I just had.”
