Neglected

Chapters

Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10

Chapter 1

Sunset Shimmer ran. As fast as she could, down the pavement away from high school. The names and jeers filled her head as the rain splashed down, hard. Sobbing quietly as she ran, she felt the tears go down with the rain, as the freezing cold seeped into her skin.

"Get outta here! And don't ever come back!"

"Worthless bully!"

"Yer not welcome here!!"

"You’ll never change!!"

"You're the same as before!!"

After running in the rain for ten minutes, she finally tripped over a wide crack in the sidewalk and tumbled to a halt, sniffling as she curled up on the ground, clutching her bleeding knee. "Dammit..." she hissed, wiping her eyes.

The sound of thunder filled the air, and Sunset flinched before looking around. She was at an intersection with several buildings. The streets were nearly empty, and the rain had gone from a slight downpour to raining cats and dogs. As she tried to get up, her knee pulsed in agony, and she fell to the ground again, yelping.

Grabbing her backpack, she pulled herself to her feet and limped into an alley, where several dumpsters sat, half empty. Pressing herself between two dumpsters, she rubbed her eyes as she felt herself be surrounded by the odor of garbage.

"Stupid Anon-a-Miss...stupid girls...why do I need them?" she muttered as she dug through her backpack. "They said they didn't need me, so why should I need them..."

Pulling out her phone, she began blocking all her contacts, grumbling angrily to herself before pocketing her phone, sniffling all the while. "Friendship is magic...like hell..." she whimpered to herself as she huddled up in the rough and rainy weather, the only shelter available being a canopy cover and two dumpsters that did nothing to protect against the cold.

"Merry fuckin' Christmas..."

4 hours later -

At the Canterlot Mall, Applejack tossed her empty cup in the trash can, before heading upstairs back to her table. The rest of her friends were cleaning up after eating an early dinner at the food court. "So, we ready to go now?" she asked.

"Yup," Rainbow Dash before a loud ping caught their attention. Turning to their phones, they groaned as they read their notifications. "Ugh, Sunset posted another goddamn secret."

"I don't understand how she could go back to doing something as horrible as this," Rarity said as she set her smartphone in her purse. "I thought we were really her friends."

"Yeah, Ah thought so too...Ah guess we were wrong," Applejack mumbled quietly as she scratched at her forehead under her Stetson. "Can't believe she'd backstab us."

"Me neither!" Pinkie Pie fumed, thumping her fist on the table.

"I don't know...didn't you see how she ran out earlier? In the rain, no less," Fluttershy said as she picked up her backpack and slung it on. "I don't think she was lying when she said she was innocent."

"Come on, Fluttershy. She was obviously acting! You didn't expect her to get away with it with how obvious it was! Who else could've known Applejack's secret at the sleepover?" Rainbow Dash said.

"I-I..." Fluttershy said before falling silent, looking down nervously. "Never mind."

"Alright, now that that's over with, let's all get outta here before the weather gets worse," Rainbow Dash said, as the girls picked up their empty food trays and headed over to the trash cans.

Fluttershy stood there for a few seconds before sighing and picking up her empty tray. As she emptied its contents into the bin, she set the tray on top and looked down. "Sunset...why would you do this to us?" she whispered before hurrying to catch up with her friends.

In a nearby restaurant, business was slow, thanks to the rain. Many people stayed indoors, and the only customers were the occasional couple, a few businessmen, and a group of kids from the nearby elementary school.

"I'm clocking out!" an employee called from the kitchen. He was a bright young man with short black hair and growing sideburns. He had a light tan and hazel colored eyes. He wore white scratched up sneakers, black jeans and a green shirt under a black chef's coat. His coat had the name tag "Coral" hanging on the right breast.

"Alright. You up for tomorrow?" another employee who was scrubbing the work counter said.

"Maybe, I'll call in tomorrow morning if I will," Coral said as he pulled on a black hoodie. “If this stupid weather gets better or worse, it might change things."

"Got it. See you later, Coral," the employee said, stopping his scrubbing of the counter to wave goodbye.

"See ya tomorrow, Bill," Coral said as he hung up his chef's coat on the rack above.

"Stay safe, I heard it's gonna rain hard till tomorrow morning!" a voice from the kitchen, the manager, called.

"Got it, you too, boss!" Coral called as he left into the pouring rain. He pulled his hood over his head and got to walking to the parking lot a few blocks away.

As he walked, he looked up to see the storm not letting up, only getting worse. “Damn, if this wind gets any stronger I’ll end up flying.”

“sniff”

Blinking, Coral stopped walking. “What the...” he mumbled as he turned around to look for the source of that sound.

“sniff”

Coral whipped around as he backed towards the space between two buildings. Once he was next to a dumpster, he took his phone out and quickly flicked on its flashlight. “Hello?” he said, waving his flashlight around. "Is someone here?"

The sniffling was heard again, and Coral quickly moved towards the dumpster. "Uhh, you're not gonna jump me or rob me or something like tha-HOLY SHIT!!" he cried.

He saw a pale girl huddled between two dumpsters, shivering in her sleep. Her hair was frazzled and her knee was bleeding. Canterlot didn't have many homeless people, but she looked well dressed, leather jacket and an orange skirt with boots that looked decently new.

"OK, uhh, uhh, uhh, hello?" Coral stammered as he stepped forward while turning off his phone flashlight. The girl didn't move, so he reached over and quickly nudged her shoulder multiple times, making sure not to jostle her too hard. "Hey, wake up!"

The girl moaned softly before her eyes fluttered open softly. She had bright colored cyan eyes that seemed rather dim, as if they were lifeless. Her eyes fell upon Coral, and she shivered upon realizing how cold it was. "H-huh?"

"Hey, what're you doing here?" Coral asked quickly in concern. "Are you OK?"

The girl slowly tried to get up, revealing to Coral her injured scraped knee with dried blood on it. Crying out, she fell to the ground, clutching her knee and sniffling in pain. "I-I need to get home..." she mumbled as she attempted to crawl out of the alley.

"Wait, wait, wait. What's your name?" Coral asked before mentally face palming. "Someone's hurt like this, you don't ask their name, idiot!" he thought.

"S-Sunset Shimmer. I have to get home, raining hard..." the girl said, shivering as she kept crawling, wincing in pain all the while.

"Whoa, whoa whoa, you ain't walking out there," Coral said, taking his phone out of his pocket and quickly switching it on. "What happened? Did someone attack you? I'm calling the police." Sunset panicked immediately and grabbed his arm before he could dial 911.

"N-no! No police, no one hurt me, I promise!" Sunset Shimmer said, holding out her hand before breathing in deeply. "Look, I just need a minute, then I'll be able to walk home."

"No way you can walk home, especially with how cold it is right now," Coral asserted. "Look, my car's at the parking lot close by, I can get you home."

"I...I can make it. It's near the new apartment building that was built a month ago," Sunset Shimmer argued, shivering all the while. "Look, just go back to your car, I-I can make it."

"The new apartment building? Shit, that's across town!" Coral said before clearing his throat. "Look, I can take you to my house and get that knee patched up. Walking on it's bound to infect it, and you'll probably die if you stay out in this weather. What do you say?"

"Why're you trying to help me?" Sunset said, the question asked in a tone that was so out of nowhere that Coral wasn't able to speak for a few seconds. "Why do you care? Do you want something from me? Do you have some plan to take advantage of me or something?"

Despite how hurt and weak the girl looked, Coral felt intimidated. Maybe it was because he was weak willed, or there was something about this girl. "N-no! I'm just trying to help," he said defensively.

"I...why?" Sunset said dumbly.

"Uhh, would you rather me leave you out here to die?" Coral asked, before thunder boomed through the area. "You're pale as fuck and you have a bad knee. Those are very very bad things."

"..." Sunset looked down. "You're not going to do anything to me, are you?" she asked meekly.

"What? N-no! I'm not a creep," Coral said before putting his hand up to his face, his face seemingly horrified. "Wait, do I look like a creep? Like a sinister kind of creep? Oh my god, that would explain so much..."

Despite the cold and the pain, Sunset giggled, a small snicker that lit up Coral's insides. "OK..." she said, that little grin on her face dropping to a nervous expression. "I-I'll take you up on that offer, I guess."

"Great!" Coral said, relieved that she was no longer fighting his offer. "Cuz you look terrible, no offense."

Sunset sighed quietly as she attempted to stand. After a minute of wobbling, she leaned against the dumpster on her good leg, revealing her outfit to Coral. Her black leather jacket and orange skirt were stained with rainwater and filth from between the dumpsters, and her boots looked scratched up. Her hair was also messy and jagged as hell.

"Umm...how bad does it hurt?" Coral asked nervously.

"It's...it's not too bad," Sunset Shimmer hissed as she looked down. "I'll be fine."

"Come on," Coral said, pulling her arm over his shoulder and helping her limp out of the alley. As the rain got worse, Coral and Sunset hurried across the street, passing a few people who either looked and turned away, or just watched as the two limped their way by. It was ten minutes of staggering before they eventually made it to the parking lot.

"OK...OK, OK, OK..." Coral muttered as he reached his car, a black used SUV. Reaching one hand into his pocket, he yanked out his keys and unlocked the car. Opening the passenger door, he stepped aside. "Here ya go," he said.

"T-thanks...I don't wanna dirty your car, though..." Sunset Shimmer said.

"I'd prefer that than leaving you to freeze. Plus, I can always get it cleaned later," Coral said, chuckling nervously as he rubbed his chilly hands together, breathing on them. Sunset climbed in slowly, wincing when she had to move her injured knee. "I-I appreciate you doing this..." she whispered.

Coral opened the driver's seat door and climbed in. "Don't mention it. Just wanted to help," he said as he started the car and immediately turned on the heating. As he pulled out of the parking lot, he switched on the windshield wipers and sighed. "What were you doing out there anyway?"

"I...I was having a rough time so I decided to be by myself," Sunset said quietly, her face growing somber as she looked down at her backpack sitting on her lap.

"Rough time? Did anyone hurt you?" Coral asked quietly, sensing how sensitive of a topic this probably was for her.

"No...well...not physically anyway," Sunset Shimmer said.

"Wanna talk about it? It helps," Coral said as he steered left, pulling through an intersection away from the businesses of the area and towards the suburban houses of the city.

"Maybe...maybe later," Sunset Shimmer said. "Not sure you wanna hear my sob story anyway..."

"I'm willing to listen over hot food and a sitcom," Coral said. Sunset Shimmer turned to look at Coral with a confused expression, and he turned red. "I swear I wasn't asking you out, I was just offering," he said as he looked away, embarrassed.

Sunset Shimmer giggled before sighing. "That sounds nice...I'll pay you back, of course," she said.

"No, it wouldn't be nice of me to take your money just for helping," Coral protested. "Trust me, food for two isn't something to fret over...especially since I'm practically a stranger."

Sunset sighed quietly. "I don't get why you're being so nice," she said.

"Well, mom always said to treat a stranger with kindness. Plus I heard online that...well, strangers are just friends you haven't met yet," Coral said. "Kinda cringe, I know."

"No, no it's good advice," Sunset Shimmer said as she looked out the window. "Friendships...they never turn out the way you think they do, do they..."

"Yeah," Coral said, Sunset looking to him in curiosity. "They're weird like that. Then again, everything often is..."

Sunset and Coral were silent for a bit. "Hey, what's your name?" Sunset asked.

"Hm? Oh, Coral," he said, focusing back on driving in this heavy weather.

"Nice to meet you. I'm Sunset," Sunset Shimmer said.

"Nice to meet you," Coral said back.

Slowing down, Coral pulled into a small one story house with black roofing and a green paint job. "Here's my humble abode," he said. "As much as a part time job and college studies can get you anyway."

"Huh? How old are you?" Sunset Shimmer asked, as Coral shut off the car and opened the door.

Walking over to the passenger's side, he opened it and offered his hand for Sunset to take. "I'm 19. Going on 20 in few months. Why?" he asked.

"Well, I figured you were...older?" Sunset asked quietly as she took his arm and heaved herself out of the passenger's seat.

"Older? Do I look that old?" Coral asked before taking on a pirate accent. "It's all the stress I tell ye. Class is bad for yer health."

Sunset Shimmer snickered as she stood up, one leg bent. "Ha ha, class isn't so bad. Brrr...it's freezing..." she said.

"Yeah. Come on, let's go," Coral said, locking the car as Sunset grabbed her bag and closed the door. Helping the girl to the porch, he fished out his house keys and unlocked the door. "Please mind the mess of...well, everything."

Opening the door, he revealed a living room with several opened novels, textbooks, and magazines, as well as a closed laptop. The decently sized television was dusty, and the couches were unparalleled to the wall or television. The kitchen and dining area wasn't as much as a mess, but it was still not as clean as other places seen in public.

"Yeah...I'm a slob. I usually clean up on weekends," Coral muttered as he removed his his shoes and set them aside. "Uhh, that knee though. We should probably clean that up."

"T-thanks..." Sunset shivered, teeth chattering. As she took off her boots, she looked around to see the posters of some musical band she didn't recognize and a shelf holding small plastic robot figurines. The wallpaper was dusty white, and the floor was hardwood.

"You should probably take a hot shower after that's cleaned. Not saying you smell bad or anything, but you're really cold. Like freezing cold," Coral said. "I have some hydrogen peroxide in the bathroom, and-"

"I know how to use it," Sunset cut off. "I just need to clean my knee and I'll be out of your mane-er, hair."

"Oh, OK," Coral said, deciding not to ask about what seemed to be a slip up. "Hydrogen peroxide and cotton balls are under the sink. Bathroom's down the hall."

"Thanks," Sunset Shimmer said, as she limped to the hallway with her things in tow. As she locked the door, Coral headed to the kitchen to get started on cooking.

In the bathroom, Sunset sat on the closed toilet lid, looking at her scrape. "Ow..." she hissed when she tried to lift it up. When she managed to rest her foot at a reasonable angle on the edge of the bathtub, she opened the sink counter and grabbed a black bottle labeled "Hydrogen Peroxide Disinfectant", and a Ziploc bag of cotton balls.

After five minutes of minor pain and the occasional "ouch", Sunset flexed her leg. It still hurt, but she could walk properly without too much issue. As she looked to the bathtub and the shower head, she wondered how long it'd been since she had a hot shower.

"Hey, Coral?" Sunset called. "You said I could use the shower, right?"

Chapter 2

The girls sat in Applejack's room as she watched the storm strengthen outside, donned in their pajamas on the bed. The sky was nearly pitch black, and the rain hadn't stopped. Luckily, it wasn't getting worse either.

"Things won't be so bad tomorrow," Applejack said as she closed her window. "Ya think Sunset's doin' OK out there?"

"Why're you so hung up on that? Sunset deserves what's coming," Rainbow Dash said, frowning at the cowgirl.

"Quite right. If she wanted her friends to worry about her, then she shouldn't have done what she did," Rarity said. "Think of everyone she's affected."

"B-but that doesn't mean we should leave her alone. On the holidays no less," Pinkie Pie said, though her tone was very reluctant. "Even if she's a secret stealing meanie."

"Sunset Shimmer did this to herself," Rainbow Dash said indignantly. "Maybe she'll learn something and take that damn account down."

"Still, we should try and help her..." Fluttershy whispered nervously, only for Rainbow Dash to turn on her.

"Fluttershy, do you really think she deserves it for doing what she's done? She leaked secrets! Our secrets!" she said.

"Dashie's right," Applejack said. "She needs to learn that what she's done just ain't right. Ah thought we were getting through ta her too..." Looking back at the storm, she sighed. "Hopefully she's at least indoors now."

"Quite right. Besides, Sunset Shimmer can handle herself just fine," Rarity said, looking back outside the window.

Fluttershy made to say something more, before looking away and crossing her arms. At the door, Applebloom slowly pulled her head away from the door and snuck back to her room, where her phone was lying motionlessly on her bed.

Coral wiped his hands with the towel hanging from the rack under the sink as the sounds of sizzling and bubbling filled the kitchen. On the gas stove sat two pans and a pot, one filled with sizzling rice and vegetables, and the other pan cooking some garlic and basil scrambled eggs. The pot had simmering soup in it, corn chowder bubbling slightly in the low heat.

It had been well over twenty minutes since they'd gotten home, and Sunset Shimmer had gone in to clean her leg injury with the things under the sink, and Coral noticed that the weather had been getting worse. After Coral said yes to Sunset to using his shower, he decided to start up dinner for the two of them.

After a few minutes of cooking, Coral shut off the stove and started to scoop fried rice into a few plates, before grabbing two bowls and ladling corn chowder in them. He didn't hear the shower door open from afar as he began to garnish the chowder bowls, adding a few basil leaves and sprinkling in a few bits of Parmesan cheese.

"Something smells nice."

Coral turned to see Sunset Shimmer fully dressed while drying her hair with a towel, careful not to let any water drip on the hardwood floor. "Thanks for letting me use the shower, I feel better already," she said as she set the towel on a chair.

"No problem. Holiday spirit and all," Coral said before looking away. "Well, not like I wouldn't help even when it's not the holidays."

"Yeah. So I'll just be on my way, ya know, get out of your hair and all," Sunset Shimmer said before Coral switched on the radio, the volume at a pretty high level. "Rain should clear up by tomorrow, but the intensity of the temperatures and water could result in a few centimetres of flooding. All residents are recommended to find shelter, and stay inside. Now for the breaking news-" the radio said before Coral switched it off.

Sunset raised an eyebrow before peeking out the window, only to be blinded for a brief second by a flash of lightning nearby. The boom of thunder filled the air, and Sunset shook herself out of her rattled state a second later. "OK, I see your point," she reluctantly muttered.

"I mean, I hope I'm not being creepy...being a total stranger and all. Not everyone is nice, so I though I'd help you when you needed it..." Coral said. "Sorry, I'm being weird."

"Ugh, don't worry about it," Sunset Shimmer reassured, embarrassed at how vulnerable she was back in that alley. How could she be independent and strong when words brought her to such a low point in her life? Then again...it was who those words came from that broke her. "I did need the help...I'm glad I took your offer. You know, as long as you don't...start being a creep."

"Yeah. Come on, food's getting cold," Coral chuckled, bringing the plates and bowls out to the small table in the dining room. As Sunset walked over to the table, she sighed.

"It's not poison, is it?" Sunset asked cautiously. "S-sorry! I just get nervous, never really, uhh..."

Coral chuckled before sitting down. "Nope. If I put anything remotely bad in food I'm serving, I'd never get visitors," he said as he passed out the spoons. "Still, I get what you're saying, being creepy and all."

Sunset snorted as she sat down across from Coral, looking down at the food before her. "Looks good," she said as she shifted in the chair. "What is it?"

"Fried rice and corn chowder. The fried rice is an online recipe but the corn chowder is one I personally made up. Kernels and simmered creamed corn," Coral said, a hint of pride in his voice.

"You like cooking, huh?" Sunset Shimmer said as she poked the rice with her spoon curiously. She'd never had much homemade food before, having only eaten at Applejack's a few months ago. Her mood significantly dropped as she remembered that experience.

"Yep. Used to cook with my mom when I was a kid," Coral said. "Loved recipes, made new ones and experimented with them. Though a lot of them were failures."

"Heh, reminds me of someone I know," Sunset Shimmer said as she thought back to a young lavender alicorn princess back through the mirror writing in her journal about some funny experiences back in the pony world.

"Is that a good thing?" Coral said, smiling. Sunset smiled back before thunder cracked down again, the two of them wincing at the boom of nature. "Let's eat before it gets cold," Coral said, as he reached to the window and shut the folds, muffling the sound of some of the heavy rainfall outside.

"R-right," Sunset said as she spooned some of the seasoned and fried rice up to her mouth, before hesitantly lowering it. As she looked at it, she also noticed bits of scrambled egg and vegetables mixed around in it. "There's no meat, is there?"

"Huh? Oh, nah. No meat. Wasn't sure if you were into that so I sorta played it safe. Unless you're a carnivore and a plant killer or something," Coral said, before chuckling nervously.

Sunset Shimmer raised an eyebrow at the wacky explanation before smiling. "Yeah, I'm not a meat person. Thanks for considering," she said before taking a bite.

"No problem," Coral said anxiously, watching Sunset Shimmer as she chewed silently. Then he looked down quickly when he realized he was staring. "Is...is it good?"

"Hm? Yeah, it's great," Sunset Shimmer said after she swallowed. "Just...thinking to myself, is all."

"About what?" Coral asked. "By the way, I know I'll probably sound pushy or something, but I am concerned about why you were alone out there in the first place."

"I-it's not your issue. Just a friends...well, ex-friends thing, is all," Sunset reassured, taking another bite. "High school was rough."

"High school? Do you go to Canterlot High?" Coral asked.

"Yeah. Why, did you used to go there?" Sunset Shimmer asked.

"Yeah," Coral said. "Average high school, graduated without too much of an issue. Why?"

"Canterlot High is the farthest thing from average, trust me," Sunset thought in slight amusement before looking down, dragging her spoon in a circle in the fried rice. "Well...I somehow got the entire school against me."

"Huh? Explain," Coral said softly. Sunset Shimmer explained her past as a bully, then her redemption arc, as she liked to call it ~~minus anything magic or pony related~~. Then came the Anon-A-Miss incident. She explained how the account labeled her as the villain, and how she was suddenly hated by the entire school practically overnight. More importantly, she talked about how friends refused to see her at all during that time.

By the time she finished explaining, Coral was seething in anger. "And you still call these...these people your friends?" he asked. Sunset Shimmer was surprised to see such fury in his expression, and she quickly backtracked.

"W-well, I'm sure it was a misunderstanding...I bet if they just apologize, it'll all blow over-" Sunset stuttered awkwardly, hoping to diffuse the situation quickly.

"Sorry, but I don't see that happening. From what I'm hearing, this isn't something you just...just apologize for. They accuse you of something you don't do, and they basically throw all the good things about you in the trash!" Coral spat angrily. "A simple and lazy 'sorry' isn't gonna fix that! It'll only make them think they can do whatever they want and you'll let them get away with it!"

"No!" Sunset said, surprised by his sudden spiteful behavior. "They'll see it's not me, and it'll all be over!"

"It won't!" Coral yelled, before freezing and covering his face in exasperation. "Sorry...I didn't mean to get riled up like this, but this is so unfair...how could they just do that to you?"

"I know..." Sunset Shimmer said. "And I'm really mad. But I don't wanna mad...I just wanna forget about it..."

Coral sighed, his eyes softening. "I get that. Too bad this kind of stuff stays with you for a long time..."

Sunset looked up to Coral, curious. "You...know what that's like?"

"Well...not me. An old friend. He was constantly blamed for everything by everyone. He was smart, kind, and always helpful. Kids back in my old school took advantage of that and he got in trouble for everything, even though he didn't do a single thing wrong," Coral explained sadly. "He was labeled as a bad kid...no one wanted to be friends with him...and the bullies just kept throwing him under bus after bus until..."

He stopped. "He had enough. The police found his body in the water the next day. The bullies didn't give a damn whether he died or not...and they just went looking for another scapegoat. Everyone just moved on, said 'good riddance he was gone'. But I won't forget...I can't..." he finished.

Sunset Shimmer's hand were over her mouth, her eyes displaying horror. "Oh..." was all she could say. "I...I'm so sorry..."

"Don't worry about it...I've gotten over most of it. But I don't think I'll ever get why people do that...why they could just abuse and manipulate trust like that..." Coral whispered.

"Like I said, it was a misunderstanding..." Sunset Shimmer protested weakly.

"But whoever's framing you obviously doesn't care about that!" Coral pointed out. "And no one thinks you're innocent?"

Sunset didn't say anything, and Coral sighed. "Look...I don't see why you'd be so willing to forgive and forget. Personally, I think you should be given some time on this. Some problems can't be solved so quickly."

"I guess..." Sunset Shimmer said, and the two went back to eating, more awkwardly than before. When they were done, Coral was washing the dishes and Sunset was still sitting at the table.

"Look, I'm...I'm sorry for making you relive such bad memories..." Sunset said. "I didn't mean to-"

"It's fine," Coral said kindly. "I get why you wanna get over your issue too...I didn't mean to try and make you hold a grudge, I'm sorry for yelling."

"But you weren't trying to make me be mean, weren't you?" Sunset Shimmer said. "I guess I understand where you're coming from after your story, and I'll think more on that. Thanks for the dinner, but right now, I need to get home and get started on homework."

"Oh no you don't," Coral stepped in. "It's gonna be raining well into midnight, maybe until the next morning. You aren't going back out there. As for homework, I can help."

"I-I don't wanna impose-" Sunset protested.

"You won't. House is pretty big and it's been a while since I had company. I could help with your homework and maybe...we could play some video games?" Coral offered.

Sunset Shimmer suddenly gained a rather sly smirk. "I see...is this a date?" she asked. Coral went from being polite to being a blushing and stuttering mess trying to backtrack his words, making Sunset laugh loudly. "Just teasing. And yeah, I'd like that. Though, am I sleeping over?"

"Oh. Ohh..." Coral said, the realization finally setting in. "Y-yeah, I have a sleeper sofa in the living room, and it has a heater next to it. P-plus spare blankets and pillows and...well, if you don't mind. It's rough out there, and I don't wanna leave you uncomfortable..."

"Thanks...it's been a while since someone's been so kind. Just lemme know if I'm imposing and-" Sunset Shimmer stated before Coral once again interrupted.

"Just glad I could help someone," he said. "I have spare clothes and a bunch of old books and E-books to help you with your homework. What do you need help with?"

"Trigonometry and a research paper for the Odyssey," Sunset Shimmer said.

Coral winced before clearing his throat. "Well...I guess I can try," he said. "Or at least give you the material and awkwardly watch as you do schoolwork more efficiently than I could ever hope to do."

Sunset Shimmer giggled as Coral looked down, a blush on his face. Still, he smiled, content with any sliver of happiness he could provide. "Hey, this makes us friends, right?" Coral asked.

Sunset Shimmer blinked in surprise before smiling. "Yeah...friends..." she said. "As long as you don't do anything creepy."

"Oh my GOD you're not gonna let that go," Coral mumbled as Sunset giggled. Hours passed, and Sunset Shimmer managed to complete the homework with little issue, and now both Sunset Shimmer and Coral were playing racing games in front of the television in the living room. Around 11:20 PM, the rain was still going hard, and the two were now tired, but happy.

"Honestly, I haven't had that much fun since..." Sunset Shimmer said, sighing as her smile gave way for a brief frown, which Coral spotted.

"Something to do with your friends?" Coral asked.

"Yeah...I'd rather not dwell on it," Sunset Shimmer mumbled. "Thanks...for everything."

Coral smiled. "No problem. I hope you're feeling better?" he asked. When he got a smile in return, he felt as if everything would be alright. Thunder once again boomed in the distance, and the two lost sight of each other and turned to the window, where a brief flash of lightning was visible through the closed curtains. "Well...I guess we'd better get to bed before the storm gets worse. I have a spare toothbrush in the bathroom cabinet. I'm gonna go set up the sleeper sofa," he said.

Sunset Shimmer coughed awkwardly and smiled. "T-thanks..." she said as she got up and yawned. "Sorry for keeping you up..."

"No worries, I usually sleep like...way later," Coral reassured. "Online classes and such. Not tonight, since it's a Friday."

"I see," Sunset Shimmer said as she made her way down the hall to the bathroom, which was at the very end of the hallway. Coral just smiled as he shut down the console and television, before pulling out the sofa and dusting it off. Sunset Shimmer was done brushing her teeth when Coral just set out the pillows and blankets, as well as a futon.

"Go ahead and get yourself comfy, I'm gonna go get myself ready for bed," Coral said. "Good night."

"Good night. And thank you again," she said. Coral smiled to Sunset before heading down the hallway to his room, Sunset sighing as she got ready to go to sleep.

Chapter 3

Coral sat at his laptop in his room, watching anime videos at a very low volume until he got tired. He always had a hard time when it came to sleep, a downside to being hyper and overall the kind of person that always needed something to do. He often saw himself in a bad light for doing such things, such as lazy and lame for watching anime late at night. However, he was glad he decided to do so tonight.

Because if he hadn't, he wouldn't have been awake to hear sobs in the middle of the night. Coral paused his video as he heard the sound coming from the living room, curious and worried. As he got up to investigate, his heart sank upon realizing what was happening.

Sunset Shimmer lay wrapped up in blankets on the sleeper sofa, whimpering and sobbing in her sleep, and it was really bothering Coral, especially with how horrible those cries sounded. "Shit..." Coral mumbled before sighing. Pulling out his phone, he decided to put on some music. From what he read, music always soothed those who were having any bad nightmares. Plus, waking them up would be awkward.

Though, if she wasn't asleep and she was just crying quietly, sneaking up on her and playing music right behind her would've been even more awkward. Either way, Coral was content with doing so. He decided to play something quiet, something that would be relatively quiet for Sunset Shimmer to be soothed by.

After the song was finished, Coral looked up to see Sunset Shimmer fast asleep, much more silent and peaceful. Smiling, Coral got up and made his way back to his room to get some shut-eye himself.

The next morning, Sunset Shimmer woke up feeling pretty refreshed and bright. The rain had stopped, and the sounds of birds chirping filled the air. Despite feeling very comfortable and snug in her spot on the couch, Sunset Shimmer slowly unwrapped herself and stretched her arms and legs tiredly.

Opening the windows, she was hit with warm morning sunlight and the sight of the outside. She hadn't slept this well since...ever, she had realized.

She turned to see the kitchen empty, and none of the other lights in the hallway on. Turning to the clock, she saw it was 6:18 in the morning. "Maybe I should make breakfast for him as thanks," she mumbled. She still had a bit over two hours to get to class.

Heading to the kitchen, she opened the refrigerator and searched it, seeing a few eggs, butter, and leftover baked potatoes among other things. Shrugging, she took those out of the fridge. "Eh, how hard could cooking be?" she said. "Binging with Babish and Gordon Ramsay make it look easy."

Coral would wake up to screaming and clattering from down the hall. Scrambling off his bed and practically crashing his way to the kitchen, he was greeted by the sight of a five foot tall fire over the stove, and Sunset smacking a singed towel against the flames as if taming a monster with it. After several minutes, we both managed to get the fire under control with minimal damage.

"Sunset...what happened?" Coral asked as he guzzled a glass of water. Sunset Shimmer was in tears and Coral was unsure with what to do.

"I-I wanted to make you something as thanks for putting up with me...and I made things worse. I'm so sorry, I swear I didn't mean to do it, if you want me to leave, I can-"

"Well...I thought you were gonna leave anyway..." Coral said. Sunset looked confused as Coral set down his empty glass. "You know, you said you had a home in the new apartment complex across the city?"

Sunset Shimmer blinked. "New apart-I mean yes! Y-yes! I totally do!! I should...pack up my school stuff...get going to my school...heheh," Sunset giggled nervously as she turned to make her way to the living room where her backpack was, before Coral grabbed her shoulder, making her emit an "eep" out of fear.

"Sunset..." he said. "Do you really live there?"

Sunset's head drooped down to the hardwood floor. "No...I live in the abandoned warehouse next to it..."

"You're homeless?!" Coral cried in disbelief.

"Not homeless!" Sunset protested. "There's electricity and an old bed..."

"Sunset...how much of your life has been utter shit?" Coral asked. "Don't tell me your parents abandoned you or something..."

Sunset wiped her eyes. "Well...m-my family isn't here," she said. "Until recently, the only family I had were my friends at school."

Coral slowly let go of Sunset Shimmer's shoulder, before looking down. "So your family basically abandoned you..." he said. "Sunset, you're staying here from now on, OK?"

"W-what? No, I don't think you can afford that!" Sunset tried to say.

"I work at a pretty fancy restaurant, and I get paid way more than minimum wage," Coral said. "You can have a warm roof over your head, a ride to school every day, and someone to help you."

"I...you don't even know me! Why are you trying so hard to help me?" Sunset said softly as she looked down.

Coral froze at that statement. Looking away, he scratched the back of his head. "Because when I saw you in that alley...alone and filthy from the rain...I couldn't leave you then. And now that I know your situation, I can't leave you now. I won't leave you while you're hurting!" he said.

Sunset couldn't tell him that his answer didn't specifically answer her question, but she couldn't help but blush. "I...OK," she whispered. "Sorry for ruining breakfast."

Coral looked at the pan to see fried potatoes and scrambled eggs. "Actually, it's not that ruined," he said, taking the pan and bringing it to the counter to grab two bowls. "The hash has a bit of char to it, and the eggs don't look so bad. Let's try it."

"R-really?" Sunset asked. "But-"

"Come on, I'm curious to try this. It's still pretty hot," Coral said as he emptied the pan into the two bowls, before sprinkling a bit of salt and pepper on each one. "Aren't you hungry?"

Sunset could see that Coral wasn't about to let up, so she relented. Plus she wouldn't be lying if she wasn't the tiniest bit curious. The two sat at the table, a bit apprehensive to eat at first, before finally digging in with enthusiasm. The food was good, a bit burnt, but they enjoyed the extra bit of crispiness with the potatoes.

After cleaning up the kitchen, Sunset Shimmer was getting ready to head to school, while Coral got ready for work. "Hey, forgot if I asked, but how old are you?" Coral asked as he tucked in his white shirt under his collared button-up.

"Oh, I'm 17. I turn 18 in a week," Sunset Shimmer said, the half-lie easily slipping off her tongue. She knew she was around a high schooler age in this world. But in reality, she was around 21 in Equestrian years, but there was no way she'd tell Coral that. Nor would she plan on telling Coral that she wasn't actually a human, rather a unicorn pony who ran from her universe to hide in this one from an all knowing magical unkillable goddess of a winged unicorn who happened to be her high school's principal in dimensional counterpart.

Coral wasn't any the wiser, as he wiped off the counter. "Adulthood, huh? Lemme tell you something, college is a nightmare compared to high school. Plus when you're 18, there's all sorts of stupid stuff you have to apply for. College ID, financial aid, legal ID, driving tests and licenses, etcetera etcetera..."

"Oh. Uhh...yeah..." Sunset Shimmer gulped nervously. "T-totally prepared for that."

Coral snorted before tossing the towel aside. "Hey...will you take my offer?" he asked. "I'd be more than willing to help you out..."

"I dunno...what do you want in return?" Sunset asked in trepidation.

Coral sighed. "...your friendship? It gets awfully lonely, even with coworkers at work," he said. "And honestly, you need the help and support...so what do you say?"

Sunset Shimmer looked down, her hands clasped together before looking back up to the young man who offered her everything.

“OK…” Sunset Shimmer replied reluctantly, unsure what friendship really meant. It was funny, a stranger being kinder in one night than she’d ever truly felt with her former ‘friends’. “Friends.”

“Are you sure you wanna go back to school?” Coral asked. “I mean I know you have to, but I feel like you need…you know, a break?”

“We have weekends. And why’re you believing these sorts of things so easily?” Sunset Shimmer asked nervously. Coral looked down, sighing before looking to Sunset Shimmer defiantly and sternly.

“The alley. No way you could’ve been lying. Our conversation last night at dinner too,” Coral said. “You were pouring your heart out, even an idiot could tell you weren’t being dishonest.”

“I…” Sunset Shimmer sighed before changing the subject. “You don’t need to drive me to school or anything, I can walk. I still have a bit of time.”

“OK,” Coral said after a bit of internal debate. “Are you sure? What if you were jumped or…”

“I can fight,” Sunset Shimmer reassured. “Thanks though.”

Sunset Shimmer walked past the Cutie Mark Crusaders and away from the Sweet Shoppe, having left her notebook with her former friends, despite the severe tongue lashing they gave her. Fingering the house keys Coral gifted her in her pocket, she wiped her face with her other hand as she just kept walking.

Texting Coral's number, having traded numbers between each other this morning, she sent him a message. Sunset: Hey, im gonna walk back home, no need to pick me up.

Coral: u sure? U remember how to get back?

Sunset: U already picked up my stuff this morning, i dont wanna waste ur gas. And yes, I do.

Coral: its no problem, i promise.

Sunset: Still, i think i need the walk. pls?

Coral: ok fine...

Coral: im gonna make us dinner

Sunset: OK, cant wait.

Coral: gr8. anyway, how was school?

Sunset froze before looking down. After a few seconds of internal debate, she decided to answer back.

Sunset: Ill tell you when i get back.

Coral: aight. ttyl.

Sunset pocketed her phone and went back to walking. Several hours later, she reached Coral's house, where his SUV was parked in the driveway. After letting herself in, she set her stuff down by the couch before heading to the dinner table.

From there, she could see Coral at the stove, the kitchen in a bustle as he cooked dinner for the both of them. "Hey, you're back. Had to have been a long walk, but I'm making dinner now," Coral said.

"I..." Sunset whispered as she sat at the table, wiping her eyes.

"Trust me. These mashed potatoes and gravy is practically a food group on its own," Coral reassured, a saucepan full of an aromatic brown liquid on one side of the stove, with a frying pan of oil. "I made the potatoes already, so...hey, what's wrong?"

Stopping his cooking and turning both igniters off, he went over to the depressed looking girl. "Hey...what happened at school?"

Sunset looked down, before sniffling. She explained how things at school didn't improve, only getting worse. The threats in her locker and on her desk. How she was jumped by Gilda and the sports team, how Rainbow Dash didn't even help her or look at her. And as she recounted her earlier hours, she eventually broke down into tears.

“I…I wanted to run or fight…but my legs froze and I just got kicked to the floor, over and over and…I’d only get into trouble if I tried fighting back!” Sunset Shimmer whimpered as Coral handed her a handkerchief. “Why do I still go there?”

“Well…because it’s law, and if you stopped going, you’d…” Coral said before noting Sunset Shimmer still sobbing her heart out. “Not helping, gotcha.”

"The coach caught them, and I went to the nurse's office...but still...I don't think I can handle this anymore," Sunset whispered. "I just wanna...never go to school..."

"Look...I'm not sure about everything that's been going on, but is there a reason why everyone would suddenly turn on you?"

Sunset Shimmer sighed. “I used to be a big bully. Like the worst. But I changed, I put everything I had into changing for the better…” Sunset Shimmer whispered as she wiped her eyes. “It worked for a bit, but…”

“The moment something goes wrong, they all assume it’s you,” Coral finished. Sunset Shimmer shot up, looking to him with ready, puffy, bloodshot eyes.

“Whoever’s doing all this is making it look like me! They’re framing me!” Sunset cried. “And the fact that it’s so obvious makes it hurt even more! They put my mark and everything, and everyone believes it’s me all of a sudden!”

“So…they’re just that stupid,” Coral said, his tone has of voice cross.

Sunset Shimmer grumbled as she buried her hands in her face. “It’s so dumb. Someone out there is spilling secrets of the students in high school and they’re trying to make it look like it’s me…” she whispered as she looked back up to the ceiling. “Why did I do any of this…redemption if no one thinks I changed?”

Coral was silent for a few minutes before he coughed and spoke up “You know…I’m not suggesting anything, but you might need to change schools…” he said, not implying anything but simply putting it out there.

Sunset Shimmer didn’t say anything, and Coral took that as a sign that she was thinking. This wasn’t something to take lightly, and Coral knew his options to help were limited. At the very most, he could at least make Sunset feel better.

“Hey, you even had street food?” Coral asked.

Fluttershy was walking home from school when she saw something somewhat strange, an orange head of hair next to a young man exiting an SUV parked at the lot next to the Canterlot Public Park. Thinking nothing of it, she simply shrugged to herself, waiting to cross the street as the two headed towards a street food cart.

When the two turned around, she gasped in surprise at what she saw: Sunset Shimmer and a strange young man both holding steaming styrofoam bowls as they headed back to their car. “Sunset Shimmer? With a stranger? Oh no, I hope he’s not taking advantage of her!” she thought nervously.

Her worries would be shaken into confusion as she saw the laughing smile on Sunset Shimmer’s face when the fiery haired teen faced the young man moments before she entered the passenger seat of the SUV. As they got in, she could barely see the two of them talking and eating in the car, Sunset seemingly smiling and chatting with the stranger in the vehicle. When the SUV pulled away moments later, FLuttershy was left confused at what she saw. "Who...who was that?" she thought to herself.

She was so lost in thought that she missed the chance to cross the street, only being shaken out of her internal stupor when the nearby cars drove by loudly.

Chapter 4

"Yer sure you saw Sunset?" Applejack asked as Fluttershy finished talking.

"Y-yes!" Fluttershy squeaked as her friends eyed her suspiciously. "She was in the car with some stranger...and she was laughing."

"Sounds shady," Rainbow Dash said before looking to her friends. "Think she has a partner in crime for all this?"

"Or she might be trying to screw with this other person. She knows we're all onto her so she probably just gave up and started with this new guy," Applejack said as she tipped her hat over her eyes. "Ugh, makes me sick."

"If she wants to ruin someone else's day, we should stop her!" Rainbow Dash said. "Someone has to make sure she isn't trying to ruin more friendships out there!"

"And what do you suppose we should do?" Rarity asked, pocketing her pocket mirror. "I'm not sure if we should even"

"We should all follow Sunset after school. Maybe Fluttershy can identify the guy or his car or whatever, then we can put a stop to Sunset for good," Rainbow Dash said.

"I...I don't know. It seemed like she and this man were really close," Fluttershy said. "I think it's best if we leave her alone..."

The other girls stared at Fluttershy before Rainbow Dash spoke up. "Fluttershy, you know our whole gig, right?" she said. "I wanna move past this as much as you do, but I'd feel like crap if I knew I was letting Sunset ruin more people!"

"Yeah. We gotta make sure nobody else gets hurt," Applejack said.

"I..." Fluttershy said nervously before Rarity spoke up, holding Fluttershy's hand gently. "Fluttershy doesn't have to come with us. If she changes her mind, she can call us. But we shouldn't be forcing her," she soothed.

Applejack sighed. "Yer right, Rarity. Sorry Flutters..." she muttered. Rainbow Dash looked like she was about to protest, only to fall silent a second later.

"Yeah...sorry," Rainbow Dash said. "So, when should we get going?"

"After school tomorrow. We should see where exactly she goes after classes," Rarity said. "We don't even know where she lives."

The group fell silent after that little fact was officially brought out and in the air. That silence even lasted several seconds, all of which felt like several minutes.

"Wow...we weren't very good friends to her before all this Anon-a-miss stuff came up, huh?" Pinkie Pie said sadly.

"Don't say that!" Rainbow Dash said. "Besides, we don't have time to dwell on this, especially when that Sunset Shimmer is up no good! We follow her after school, and we put an end to this."

Unfortunately, Sunset Shimmer was nowhere to be seen in class the next day. None of the girls could find Sunset Shimmer, nor could they get anyone else to find her. Anyone they asked either couldn't find her or refused to care.

At the end of the day, the five reconvened to start on a new plan of action. "We're gonna have ta search for them the old fashioned way," Applejack said. "We should head to the city, split up and cover more ground."

"We see her, we call the others at once, got it?" Rainbow Dash said.

"You don't have to if you don't want to, but we could really use your help, Fluttershy," Rarity said kindly. Fluttershy looked down, clearly deep in disturbed thought before slowly looking up. Nodding, she gave her answer.

"Alright then," Rainbow Dash said. "Let's move."

And so they did, searching the city left and right, asking shop owners they knew left and right if they'd seen her. This provided some more results, being told that they'd seen her around during school hours, though she never entered their establishments so they didn't ask.

After a few hours of searching, the girls finally met at the nearby warehouses across the city to go over what they found. None of them officially found Sunset Shimmer nor did they receive any hints at all over where she could be or potential leads on where she could be.

"We can't just stop. We must keep searching before we lose track of her for good," Rarity said.

"What are some places we haven't looked yet? Or places that we know Sunset Shimmer would go to?" Rainbow Dash asked. "The Sweet Shoppe?"

"No, she wouldn't go back there, not after we ousted her earlier," Rarity said. "There must be somewhere else we haven't looked yet..."

Fluttershy looked like she was about to speak up before turning. "Umm, girls?" she said meekly, though her words went unnoticed upon the deep discussion between the four girls.

"Where else would that meanie pants go? The mall?" Pinkie Pie asked.

"Maybe...but a lot of students go to the mall," Rainbow Dash said. "Kinda obvious."

"How about the movies?" Applejack asked.

"Girls? I think...umm..." Fluttershy tried again just a bit louder this time, but again she went unnoticed due to their relatively louder talking.

"Maybe. What kinds of movies would she watch?" Pinkie Pie asked.

"I don't know! We shouldn't raid the theaters to look for her. Maybe we should call this off and see if she comes back tomorrow," Rarity suggested.

"Girls!" Fluttershy shouted. By shouted, she more or less spoke up at the same volume of a normal voice. Nonetheless, this successfully captured the attentions of the other girls. "Umm...they're over there," she said.

The four turned to see a black SUV with its trunk compartment open parked outside a warehouse a few blocks down, near the apartments. A young man was walking out of the warehouse with a cardboard box in his hands. He wore black jeans, a green hoodie, and a black beanie with a visor. The girls watched as he loaded up the car with the box, pushing it in place with about three other boxes that were already in the vehicle.

"Why? What's with that guy?" Rainbow Dash said as she peered closer. He had his head tilted at a rather awkward angle, and it was revealed he was speaking with a smartphone pressed between his ear and his shoulder. "Spot a cute guy in the middle or our search or something?"

Fluttershy squeaked. "N-no! That's the man I saw Sunset with earlier! And that's his car!" she said, trying her best not to stutter in embarrassment. The statements however made the girls' visages darken significantly.

"Oh no...don't tell me he's a criminal?" Rarity gasped, watching this man 'rob' the warehouse. At least, it looked like that. The man spoke on his phone a bit longer before hanging up, pocketing it and shutting his SUV trunk. "What do we do?" she asked.

"You said that was the guy who was with Sunset, right?" Rainbow Dash asked as the figure entered the driver's seat of his vehicle. Fluttershy nodded, and the rainbow haired athlete got up. "Then we'd best get going!"

She waved to a nearby taxi, which stopped next to them. As Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Applejack, and Fluttershy were crammed in the back seat of the car, Rarity gracefully took the front passenger seat and buckled up as if nothing strange were happening. "Hello dear," she said to the driver, a young freckled man. "Please do us a favor and tail that SUV?"

The driver raised an eyebrow in both curiosity and concern at the four girls behind him before sighing. "Sure," he said as the taxi pulled after the SUV, all while muttering something along the lines of "I don't get paid enough for this."

The tailing went on for about twenty minutes, mainly about 3/4ths of the wait time being because of traffic. Applejack and Rainbow Dash were bickering over space, Pinkie Pie was singing some song at the top of her lungs, and Fluttershy was trying everything humanly possible to turn completely invisible.

Meanwhile, Rarity was waiting patiently and quietly, checking her makeup in the mirror occasionally. Though, she seemed to be more stressed than actually concerned over her appearance. The driver as hunched over in his seat as he followed the SUV, his patience slowly dwindling over the cacophony in his vehicle.

When the SUV finally slowed down after pulling into a neighborhood, Rarity ordered the driver to stop a few blocks ahead to avoid suspicion. As the girls peered out the back, they watched the vehicle reverse up the driveway so the trunk was facing the house.

"This your stop?" the absolutely done with everyone driver asked tiredly.

"Yes, dearie," Rarity said with a kind smile. As the other four crashed outside the taxi, Rarity reached into her purse and pulled out a wad of bills, easily three times the taxi fare needed to get here. "I apologize for my friends," she said briefly as she placed the money in his hand before closing the car door behind her.

The driver looked down at the money in his hand before sighing. "Guess it ain't all bad," he mumbled before driving off. As the taxi left, the girls dusted themselves off and looked up to see the man enter the house with the first box in his hands.

"Well, how should we do this?" Pinkie Pie asked.

"Ah'd say we go up there and demand our answers," Applejack said, cracking her knuckles. Luckily, Rarity was able to speak up before Rainbow Dash could agree.

"Too forward, darling," Rarity said. "I say we be diplomatic over it. Forcing answers out of anybody has never been right, and we don't want to stoop to Sunset's level, do we?"

Applejack backed down with that statement, and Rarity cleared her throat. "I say we talk to him nicely. Leave it to me."

"Fine," Rainbow Dash said as she peered at the guy still moving boxes. "I still don't like this..."

"Or...maybe Fluttershy can do it! Even a meanie pants won't be mean enough to hurt Fluttershy!" Pinkie Pie said, startling the aforementioned girl. "Well, except Sunset Shimmer."

"Yeah, Flutters here can do it," Rainbow Dash said as she gently elbowed Fluttershy, though that was still enough to jolt her forward. "Element of Kindness here, eh?"

"I-I mean...if you want me to..." Fluttershy whispered as the guy shut the trunk and locked the car with the last box in one hand and his car keys in the other. It wasn't until he entered the house and locked the door behind him that she moved towards the driveway.

She walked up the porch and slowly knocked on the door, two simple taps. The four girls hid behind the black vehicle on the driveway as Fluttershy waited patiently and nervously for the door to open up. Luckily, her knocks were heard as she jolted when the locks clicked.

When the door opened, Fluttershy let out an 'eep' as a young man with short black hair and some growing sideburns answered. He was relatively handsome, though his hair was sort of messy and sticking up: no doubt from wearing the beanie earlier. "Hello?"

"U-Umm..." she whispered. "H-hi?"

"...hi," the man said, a bit confused to say the least. He looked to be at least one or two years older than her and the girls. "Can I help you with something?"

Fluttershy stuttered and blushed for about a minute straight before she panicked and pushed the door shut with a slam, a small "Ow!" barely being heard over the thud. Rarity, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, and Rainbow Dash all face palmed in exasperation as Fluttershy feebly apologized through the door.

inside the house -

Coral groaned as he rubbed his nose. It wasn't broken by any means, but it absolutely hurt like hell. “Goddamn it…” he groaned. “Ow…”

“What was that?” Sunset Shimmer asked as she entered the living room, hair semi-soaked with a towel around her neck. She wore a pair of shorts and a sweatshirt.

“A weird girl knocked, stammered for a minute before slamming my own door in my face,” Coral said. “And it hurts.”

“Oh. Uhh, that’s kind of weird,” Sunset Shimmer said, raising an eyebrow. “Do you need an ice pack or something?”

“Sure. Just a piece of ice in a napkin works,” Coral said as he leaned on the wall. As Sunset Shimmer went to the kitchen, Coral sighed and rubbed his face awkwardly. Seriously, the door was a dangerous object, why don't people understand that?

He instantly tensed up when he heard muffled talking outside. It sounded a lot like the voices of several girls either arguing or discussing. Peering out the semi-open window, he frowned upon seeing four more girls with the one who slammed the door in his face out on the porch.

"Great. She brought friends," Coral mumbled in exasperation as Sunset came over with three chunks of ice wrapped in a napkin. "Thanks. Hold on, I just gotta deal with this for a second."

He opened the door to reveal all five girls outside on his porch. "Can you all explain what exactly you're doing here?" he asked crossly while holding up the wrapped ice to his nose. He heard a gasp behind him, and the girls turned to look at him.

They then turned to see Sunset Shimmer, and they immediately pushed past Coral to get to her. Before he knew it, he was watching four girls he'd never seen before verbally attacking Sunset Shimmer, shouting questions and demands at the frightened teen girl. The fifth girl, the one who slammed the door in his face, was still at the door, hands against her mouth in what was presumed to be horror.

"Whoa whoa whoa, what the fuck is going on?!" Coral shouted over all the noise. The voices stopped and one of the girls, a blonde with a Stetson, spoke up.

"This girl's done a lotta bad things, Mister! I dunno why yer harborin' her here, but she's gotta answer for everythin' she's done!" she said.

"Yeah!" a rainbow haired girl agreed. "She's gotta fix the mess she made!"

There was silence as the girls waited for Coral's reaction. Sighing, Coral rubbed his face with his free hand, the other still holding up Sunset Shimmer's makeshift ice pack to his nose.

"That doesn't answer my question. Again, what the fuck is going on?" Coral said. The four girls immediately explained Sunset Shimmer's "actions" over Anon-A-Miss, how she was breaking a lot of friendships, hurting lots of people, and pretending as if it were not even her. The blonde haired cowgirl and the rainbow haired athlete were the most vocal about it, with the cotton candy haired pink girl and the fancy pale curly haired girl seemed to be on the sidelines.

All the while, Sunset Shimmer was curled up against the couch, on the brink of sobbing as everything she was accused of came out into the light. She may have told Coral about it, but every detail of how Sunset Shimmer was a horrible person in both the present and past term did nothing but tear her heart out and crush it over and over.

When they were done, Coral set down the half melted ice in the soaked napkin on the nearby coffee table and sighed. "So that's what's happening, right?" he said, and Sunset Shimmer's heart leapt into her throat.

"Well?" the rainbow haired girl asked promptly.

"Yeah, what do you think of this whole mess she created?" the blonde haired cowgirl said.

Coral cleared his throat and frowned darkly at the girls. "I think you five need to quit being jackasses and get the fuck out of my house before I call the cops on all of you," he said.

Chapter 5

The girls stared in what was likely pure shock rather than anything related to offense. Sunset Shimmer was also in shock, mainly because of the fact someone actually stood up to them at all.

"E-Excuse me?" Rarity gasped, shocked by the sudden profanity aimed right at her. "How dare you talk to us that way!"

"Why do you think I dare to? You clearly had no problem talking much worse to her," Coral said. Sunset Shimmer was silent, as were the other girls. Sunset Shimmer was the most shocked, as no one had ever stood up for her over this drama, not a stranger of all people.

"Well excuse me for tryna do the right thing and stop her before-" Applejack said, but Coral was quick on the draw.

"The right thing? Coming in and attacking this girl with hurtful words is the right thing?" Coral said. "I need all of you to leave. Right now."

"What?! You can't make us-" Pinkie Pie said, her voice rising in both pitch and volume before Rarity stopped her by tapping on her shoulder.

"Well, it is his house..." Rarity said meekly, a bit embarrassed upon the realization that they were doing some pretty bad things as well. "Come on girls, we are intruding."

"But, he's helping Sunset Shimmer! And he was robbing that warehouse earlier!" Rainbow Dash said before turning to see the boxes stacked by the hallway. She zipped over to them and opened one immediately. "See?! He was stealing...jackets?"

Rainbow Dash held up a familiar leather jacket, and the girls looked over to the boxes. Before Coral could tell them to leave again, Pinkie Pie dove into the boxes and popped right out of one. "Blankets? A bunch of books?" she said.

"Umm..." Sunset Shimmer said. "He was just collecting my stuff from...my home..."

The girls gasped, Fluttershy especially. "You were living in a warehouse?" she whispered in horror, which only made Sunset Shimmer recoil and look away. "But...why didn't you tell us?"

"Wait, did you stalk me?" Coral asked. Rarity and Pinkie Pie looked away, confirming his thoughts. "Alright, what the fuck."

"Does it matter?" Rainbow Dash said sourly.

"Yes it does!" Fluttershy cried, much to the surprise of everyone else. "How could we not even notice that she lived in an abandoned warehouse this entire time?"

"You never asked," Sunset Shimmer said quietly.

"Oh, now you're gonna-" Rainbow Dash said, about to take a step towards her before Coral spoke up again, trumping her voice with his in terms of volume.

"Can you all stop?!" Coral finally shouted. "Drop her things and get out of here right now before I call the cops. I will not say it again." He held his phone in his hand, and the girls knew he meant business. Slowly, they left the house, though Rainbow Dash and Applejack did shoot glares at Sunset Shimmer as they left.

Fluttershy had a heartbroken look as she looked at the girl on the floor before she too left. "I'm so sorry about them," she said. "A-and about your nose...and door."

Coral sighed, all the fight clearly draining out of him. "Just go..." he said tiredly, neither refusing nor accepting Fluttershy's apology. As she left, he shut the door and went to Sunset Shimmer. "Hey..." he said.

Sunset Shimmer lunged forward and tackled him in a hug, sending the both of them tumbling over the couch. Before Coral could tell her to get off or ask what's going on, he froze when he realized she was wracking with sobs. Awkwardly patting her back, Coral waited for Sunset to stop crying and calm down.

She did so about five minutes later, but for the both of them, those five minutes lasted for all about five hours.

The next day, early in the morning, Principal Celestia was greeted by a rather surprising call from Sunset Shimmer of all people. "What do you mean, you can't handle it anymore?" she asked, a bit concerned.

"I'm not going to hurt myself if that's what you're worried about," Sunset Shimmer whispered. She wasn't able to sleep at all, especially with the girls knowing where she was staying. "I...I can't go back there."

"But what about your classes? We already have a plan implemented to cut down on the bullying-" Celestia said. She was one of the few who had doubts over Sunset Shimmer's actions. While she didn't believe that she could do something like this, she couldn't do much about it until the matter was investigated further.

"Screw my classes! You can't stop the others...they'll just attack me again," Sunset Shimmer whimpered. "I can't go through that again. Nobody will listen when I say it isn't me...I wouldn't go back like that. I don't even know if you believe me or not..."

"I...I don't currently have a view on the situation," the principal confessed awkwardly. "I need to get a closer look at what's been going on...but because of how chaotic and toxic the website is, it's been rather difficult to try and pinpoint where it started."

"Don't bother...whoever's framing me would probably cover their tracks. It's what I'd do," Sunset Shimmer sighed. "I won't go back there. I thought I could get better, but someone will just stop me from improving. If that's stopped, then someone else will do it. And it'll never ever end. I want to leave..."

Principal Celestia sighed as she looked away. She felt so much shame over what had been happening under her nose, and despite Sunset Shimmer's rough years to the other students, the amount of pain those students put her through was no justification at all. "I have failed you as a principal...and as a figure of authority," the principal sighed before putting herself back on the phone. "I'll have you transferred."

The principal heard a crash as Sunset Shimmer clambered back to the phone. "I'm sorry, what?" the teen asked.

"I can transfer you to...Crystal Prep Academy," Principal Celestia said. She heard Sunset Shimmer gasp and she couldn't blame her. Everyone knew Crystal Prep Academy was one of the largest rivals of Canterlot High, something that went far beyond mere sportsmanship. And despite Sunset Shimmer being a bully when she first showed up, she was also one of the smartest girls around.

Celestia hated to "give" such a model student - well, starting recently, she was a model student - to a rival, Celestia knew that it was a far safer option for Sunset Shimmer. There was no doubt that Crystal Prep would be bullies at first, but the principal had no doubt that Sunset Shimmer would be able to handle such a prestigious preparatory academy with the classroom capabilities she had.

Even if Canterlot would take a hit because of it.

"You-you're serious?" Sunset Shimmer whispered.

"I know it must be a big step. But this is the safest option I can give you. If you don't like it, we can come up with another option that will help fix-" Celestia said.

"I'll take it. Just...I'm so sorry for causing all this. I'm innocent in this whole Anon-A-Miss mess," Sunset Shimmer said. "But it never would've happened if I hadn't been such a bitch when I first started going to Canterlot."

Celestia didn't comment on that choice of profanity - she felt it could be excused given the circumstances. "I understand. I wish things were different as well. Just know that I am proud of your change," Celestia said as she turned around. "And I wish you all the luck for the upcoming future." Leaning the phone between her shoulder and her face, Principal Celestia dug through a folder for a transfer form. "Your transition period will be seamless. Next Monday is when you start. I'll provide you a school district issued bus pass for long term travels once I receive one from Crystal Prep."

"Thank you. I don't think any of us will be happy with this...but thank you. I really need this," Sunset Shimmer said, and Celestia could hear her student...no, former student wiping away a layer of mucus from her nose.

"I...I appreciate the thanks," Celestia said. "But it is not at all necessary. I'll miss you, Sunset Shimmer."

And so, the call ended.

Sunset Shimmer handed back the phone to Coral, who looked at her in concern. "You're just going to give up?" he asked. "What about proving your innocence?"

Sunset Shimmer sighed sadly before looking up at the young man who took her in, protected and cared for her when she needed it most. "It'll never be proven. Not after my guilt from much earlier." She walked over and hugged him. "I just wanted to thank you. I don't think I could have the heart to turn them away even if..."

"Hey, they were your friends," Coral said, returning the embrace at full earnest. "No one should have to go through that sorta shit. So, what are you going to do now?"

"I'm going to Crystal Prep," Sunset Shimmer said. "New school...away from the drama."

"Oh, I had a neighbor whose son used to go to that school. The bus passes by here at like seven in the morning," Coral said as he broke the hug. "Though I heard that school is like super hard to get through. Fancy schmancy academy and whatnot."

"Don't worry about me," Sunset Shimmer said before wincing. "Well, kind of hard not to worry after what happened, but I'll be fine. Believe it or not, I can fight. And I was one of the best in Canterlot. I'll be able to prove I'm a smartass like one of them in no time."

Coral nodded before yawning. "Well, I should be getting to work. Just stay inside and do NOT let anybody in. If someone breaks in, call the cops and hide in the cellar-"

"Hey, I can handle it. All I can do is wait anyway, so I'll be on guard at all times," Sunset Shimmer said.

"I know, I just..." Coral said. "I'm scared. Seeing you cry the other day was more or less heart wrenching. If something worse happened to you..."

Sunset Shimmer flushed a little, a bit touched by how much he cared for her. Then she frowned at the thought of a stranger caring for her more than her best friends...

Though, Coral isn't a stranger anymore, is he? He was so much more than a person who found her in an alley, injured and soaked by the rain.

Sunset Shimmer just pat his shoulder. "I'll stay indoors and safe, I promise," she said. "Now get going, you don't wanna be late for work."

A few minutes later, Coral had everything he needed to get to work, heading to his vehicle in the driveway. As the large car pulled out, Sunset Shimmer decided to make herself some breakfast. She would've made Coral some earlier, but the young man had mentioned that he usually operates off a sandwich and coffee before starting work.

Scrambled eggs and hash browns weren't too difficult to make, and within ten minutes, she was munching quietly while on Coral's laptop, pulling up the official website of Crystal Preparatory Academy to look up what she should be ready for when it comes to this new school. As far as she knew, she didn't know what to expect.

She spent a half hour looking up class curriculums, after school activities, school guidelines and regulations, expectations, school uniforms, and scheduling. Despite the stricter timetables and various other things that made Crystal Prep so much more different than the more traditional public high school of Canterlot High, Sunset Shimmer found herself enjoying her planning and preparations.

She did used to be Princess Celestia's student, after all. After she was done, she got up to wash the dishes and clean up the kitchen, when she heard a knock.

"S-Sunset Shimmer?" a familiar timid voice whispered from the door. Sunset Shimmer gasped and nearly dropped her plate on the floor, playing a convoluted game of hot potato with the fragile plate before finally securing it with a quiet sigh of relief. "I-if you're in there, can you o-open the door? I promise I'm alone..."

Sunset Shimmer didn't need to slip to the window to know that Fluttershy was likely standing in front of the door, hands wrapped around herself as she waited. For a moment, Sunset Shimmer was tempted to let Fluttershy inside. Heck, she probably should have - but fear kept her from approaching the door.

Sunset Shimmer only stood dumbly at the kitchen in silence for a few minutes. Finally, Fluttershy spoke again. "I...I know you won't listen...I don't deserve to be listened. But I know it's not your fault. When we saw you...I saw you crying...I knew it couldn't be you," the animal caretaker whispered. Despite the distance and Fluttershy's quiet volume, her words rang like a high quality video playing in Sunset Shimmer's eyes.

Sniffling, Fluttershy continued. "I'm sorry...I'm so sorry we hurt you. We broke your heart...I broke your heart when we turned you away. I was the one who told the others where I saw you the other day...I only hurt you more. The girls and I went too far, I know that now. I don't deserve forgiveness. I just want you to know how sorry I am...and that I hope we can fix what we had..."

Sunset Shimmer quietly slid down to the floor against the wall, and Fluttershy let out a nervous shudder. "I...I'll leave you alone now..." she said. A few steps were heard, then nothing. Sunset Shimmer thought hard on Fluttershy's words...a second person who believed her innocent. Even if she didn't think so before.

What difference does it make?

Without a word, Sunset Shimmer went back to the laptop on the table and went back to scrolling. After all, she had to prepare to go to Crystal Preparatory Academy.

Author's Note

Sorry for the long wait. I was confirmed to be sick with a LOT of stuff, and I also had my wisdom teeth removed. On the bright side, I have been planning this story for a long time while I was out, and I plan on trying to get back into it despite my current state. Thanks for the patience.

Next time, Coral helps Sunset Shimmer heal, and the rest of the girls learn what's going on.

Chapter 6

Monday was in three days.

Coral had a few days off for the weekend, but he requested a day off on Friday to help Sunset Shimmer prepare. Celestia's promise had come through easily, and Crystal Prep had sent over a uniform, a set of notebooks and planners, Crystal Prep bags and much much more. It was surprising just how much they had prepped for the transfer. Now, all Sunset Shimmer needed was to get the school issued yearly bus pass directly from Crystal Prep, as well as a school identification card.

"You didn't need to drive me," Sunset Shimmer said as she gazed out the window of the passing environment.

Coral just shrugged. "How else will you get there?" he asked. "Besides, I'm only missing a day, and I don't have any college classes today."

Sunset Shimmer could only sigh as she thought about what Fluttershy said from outside the door. Did she really mean what she said the other day? The last thing Sunset Shimmer wanted was to risk trusting her and end up getting burned. On the other hand...Fluttershy isn't a good liar. Or a liar at all. She really seemed broken up over the whole situation.

Maybe she could give Fluttershy - and only Fluttershy - a chance? But not now.

Not when the wounds still burned.

"We're here," Coral said as he parked the car. Sunset Shimmer jolted nervously and looked around. She saw an unfamiliar building, a rather large one that seemed so castle-like. Scratch large - it was massive, the walls taking up a lavender shine, with the windows reminiscent of the ones in Canterlot Castle back in Equestria.

"Yeesh, fancy place," Coral said as he tugged his jacket over his shoulders and patted down his sides, making sure everything was in place. The two of them exited the car, Coral locking it behind him as they made their way to the school building. It was fairly early, so classes were likely in session.

Upon entering, they were both greeted by a large circular lobby, similar to Canterlot High's, but with massive ornate pillars between each hallway entrance. There were trophy cases and fancily decorated banners everywhere, and the entirety of the interior just screamed "rich kids go here".

"Wow," Coral said. "This room is probably more expensive than a cruise ship ticket."

"Never been on one, so can't really compare," Sunset Shimmer said before the sound of a throat clearing caused both their heads to turn. Before one of the hallway entrances was a rather gorgeous looking woman with hair of three different shades of purple - light purple, a dark purple violet, and rose - with what appeared to be a long gold streak. While odd, it nevertheless didn't take away from her looks.

She had purple eyes and wore what appeared to be a school faculty uniform, which consisted of a faded turquoise pencil skirt, a light blue shirt, and a blue blazer with golden buttons and the emblem of Crystal Prep pinned on her left breast area.

"Good morning, I'm Dean Cadence," the woman said. "How may I help you?"

"H-hi, I'm Sunset Shimmer. I was told I'd be transferring here..." Sunset Shimmer said, awkwardly waving. Coral simply stayed back and watched the interaction.

"Ah, I was told to expect you," Cadence said as she smiled kindly. "Please, come with me. Are you..."

"I can wait here if that's fine," Coral said.

"Of course. Feel free to have a look around the lobby," Cadence said as she gestured to the many trophies and achievements around the area. As Sunset Shimmer and Cadence left, Coral felt free to look around. There were an equal amount of pictures with every trophy, each picture having a sports team posed and smiling at the camera for each respective trophy.

There was no doubt that this school had plenty to show off in its name, for a rich school anyway. Public competitions, school district festivals, all sorts of events, and Crystal Prep had something for everything.

"Heh, I've never been much for sports," Coral muttered to himself as he eyed the achievements on paper certificates, plaques, and badges, all hung up in large ornate glass cases. After a few minutes of looking around and getting bored - no offense to the school itself - Coral decided to play some games on his phone, sitting at one of a few comfortable chairs in the lobby.

Canterlot High: Lunchtime -

"She hasn't shown up for a few days. I'm a bit worried," Rarity said.

"Let her. Maybe some time alone will actually do her some good," Rainbow Dash muttered sourly. The girls were all sitting at their lunch table in the busy cafeteria. The atmosphere surrounding majority of the student body in the massive room was more or less negative, arguments and cold glares everywhere, no doubt from more of Anon-A-Miss's secrets making their way to public posts.

Fluttershy only frowned and toyed with her food for a bit, poking the large salad on her tray with a fork before slipping a cucumber slice into her backpack, where the sound of Angel munching on the piece of vegetable was drowned out by the sounds around them.

"Hey, Fluttershy. You feelin' alright?" Applejack asked. "You've been quiet ever since lunch started."

"I'm just worried...is all," Fluttershy said. "What if something bad happened?"

"She's Sunset Shimmer. If anyone was stupid enough to try something with her, she'll beat the living daylights out of them," Rainbow Dash grumbled. "Not a compliment."

"But...still. What if something bad happened to her and we weren't there to help?" Fluttershy whispered.

"You ain't siding with Sunset, are ya?" Applejack asked, and Fluttershy couldn't help the involuntary shudder that went through her. Before she could protest or do anything else, Rarity spoke up.

"Darling, Fluttershy has every right to be concerned with Sunset Shimmer! She was our friend after all, and Fluttershy is the Element of Kindness!" Rarity scolded. "Goodness, I know we're upset with that girl but it would be awfully cold of us to not give any concern at all, don't you think?"

Applejack looked sheepish before looking away. "S-sorry, Flutters...Ah guess Ah have been a bit rude lately."

"If you call breaking and entering into a guy's house and starting a yelling match rude, sure," Pinkie Pie droned. The other four turned to see Pinkie Pie's hair completely flat, lacking of its signature poofy nature. The others knew when to tone down the arguments, and they stopped talking about Sunset Shimmer for the rest of lunch.

A few minutes before the bell rang, the girls decided to head to class, promising to meet up at Sugarcube Corner after school today. Fluttershy was about to make her way to her own class when she saw Principal Celestia walking towards her office. Deciding against her better judgement, she decided to ask her where Sunset Shimmer was.

She was about to knock politely when she heard Principal Celestia's voice through the door. Who was she talking to? Was there somebody inside, or is she on the phone?

"Yes. No, no. Wait, yes I understand. Thank you, I know it's not the most conventional conversation we've had but I really appreciate you taking her in your school," Celestia's voice said. "I know our schools have had difficulty in the past, but I really believe she'll fit in at Crystal Prep than in Canterlot High. I'm ashamed to admit it but...I have failed her. At this point, I'm not concerned with my public image, only her safety."

"Is she talking about Sunset Shimmer?" Fluttershy thought to herself. "Is that why she didn't show up? She transferred out?" She felt her eyes well up in tears at the thought of Sunset Shimmer moving away because of something that wasn't her fault at all. Shakily, she made her way to her classroom, doubt and concern plaguing her thoughts.

After a few minutes of walking, she took out her phone and shot everyone a group text. "Sorry girls, but I can't go to Sugarcube Corner today. I have something else I need to do at the shelter."

Within seconds, she received replies telling her it was alright and that they'll pick up a drink and a snack for her. Already feeling the pain of lying to her friends, she could only pocket her phone and await the end of the day.

She was going to Crystal Prep as soon as she could.

Crystal Prep Academy, several hours later -

Much of the school day was taken up by Crystal Prep's official orientation, which was a multistep program designed to incorporate new students into the student body of this rich school. As expected of a prestigiously funded academy, the curriculum was very difficult and came with many more obstacles that many students were expected to overcome.

The orientation was designed to do just that, and it consisted of several hours worth of questionnaires, presentations, many videos that promoted Crystal Prep's esteemed and respectable reputation, as well as several interviews and many more required things that seemed way too much for a high school.

Despite that, Sunset Shimmer showed no fatigue or boredom during the orientation process whatsoever - she was an eager learner, after all.

"And that concludes today's orientation," the faculty member said, folding his arms as he eyed the lone soon to be Crystal Prep student in the room. The adult seemed tired, almost as if he'd done this multiple times before. And considering the strenuous process and the large number of students in the school, he likely has. "Are there any questions you'd like to get out of the way now?"

Sunset Shimmer shut her notebook and set it neatly on the pile of other notebooks. The entire time, Sunset Shimmer had been writing down as much as she could with every rule that the orientation had clearly explained to her. She didn't want to screw up her chances with this new school and end up back in Canterlot, so she wasn't about to take any risks.

"Hah, I'm gonna be studying rules before I even start in this new school...what a pain," Sunset Shimmer thought amusedly to herself before clearing her throat. "Nope, I have no further questions," she said patiently.

"Very well. I believe you already have your uniform and your other essentials prepped and ready at home," the faculty member said as he handed her a sheet of paper. "Here's an itinerary of the semester. Report to classes on Monday at eight in the morning, sharp."

Minutes later, Sunset Shimmer was walking outside the room to head back to the lobby. Upon reaching it, she snorted upon seeing that Coral had fallen asleep, lazily draped over a chair and snoring quietly. Walking up to him, she considered kicking the chair, before deciding to be a bit nicer and just tap him on the nose.

"Uhhhh...bwuh?" Coral mumbled as he woke up. "Oh, hey...what time is it..." Coral asked.

"It's about time for classes to end," Sunset Shimmer said, shifting her shoulder in order to properly hoist the large schoolbag of notebooks she had. "Maybe...2:30 in the afternoon?"

"Ugh...why is it such a long process..." Coral moaned as he rolled out of the chair and onto the floor, Sunset Shimmer giggling at his admittedly childish - or foalish - antics.

"You didn't have to wait for me here. You could've gone somewhere else or even back to work," Sunset Shimmer remarked, raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah, but nobody told me when you'd be done..." Coral grumbled as the bell rang. "Ugh, I forgot how hard it is to wake up from naps..."

Students piled out of classrooms and passed through the lobby, some occasionally staring at the fiery/bacon haired girl standing over and having a conversation with a guy of similar age lying on the ground.

"Yo!"

Coral tilted his head while he was on the floor to see who called to them, just as Sunset Shimmer turned around. A teen around Sunset Shimmer's height wore the standard Crystal Prep uniform - a pair of Mary Jane school shoes, knee high socks with frilled ends, a pleated skirt and a blazer following the color scheme of the school. Under the blazer, she wore a white collared shirt with the collars undone, and a neat bow tie.

She also had light green hair of varying shades and golden eyes - probably akin to a bright shade of amber. There was also a pair of headphones around her neck, which did seem a bit out of place compared to all the fancy students at Crystal Prep. Sunset Shimmer and Coral eyed each other as they were approached.

"Who are you? Are you robbers scoping out the place?" the girl asked after reaching them.

"Uhh...no. I'm Sunset Shimmer, I'm gonna be a student here," Sunset Shimmer introduced, holding out her hand for the Crystal Prep student to shake. To her surprise, the girl slapped it like a sideways high five, causing a stinging pain in her hand. Judging by her face, she didn't have any motives to hurting her, likely just used to giving painful high fives.

"Sweet! I'm Lemon Zest!" the girl said, a wide grin on her face, before she turned and looked down at Coral. "And who's this creepy old man?"

"I'm only like two years older than you," Coral said, still lying on the ground. "I'm Coral and my legs fell asleep."

"Hi there, Coral and my legs fell asleep," Lemon Zest said, leaning over and narrowing her eyes. "What's a perv like you doin' at our school?"

"One, I'm not a perv. Two, I'm her ride," Coral said before blinking. "And by that, I drive her."

"Ooh, got a guy under your thumb already, eh? Respect," Lemon Zest said as Sunset Shimmer snorted. "Besides, you're peering up my skirt, ain't ya?" Lemon Zest said sardonically, redirecting her attention back to Coral. "That's creepy. You're lucky I'm wearing shorts, dude."

"Then fuckin' move a few inches back. At least until my legs wake up," Coral grumbled. Lemon Zest guffawed, and Sunset Shimmer couldn't help but rolling her eyes. Not even her first day at Crystal Prep and they were already meeting some odd fellows.

A few minutes later, Lemon Zest said her goodbyes and said she'd see Sunset Shimmer next week. Sunset Shimmer and Coral made their way back to their car, talking all the while.

"So, wanna get lunch? I know a cool burger joint a few miles in the city," Coral asked as he opened the car door. Sunset nodded as she got into the passenger's seat, ready to close it when she saw someone, freezing mid-sit.

"Huh? Who is it...oh..." Coral said. He saw a familiar pink haired girl quickly coming up to them, looking rather nervous at her relatively fast pace. "Should we go now, or-"

"No, wait. I wanna talk to her," Sunset Shimmer said, thinking about what Fluttershy had told her through the door the other day. "It'll just be a second..."

Coral looked at Sunset Shimmer before sighing. "Alright. But she'd better have good intentions. I'll keep the car warm."

Sunset Shimmer slowly stepped out of the car and approached Fluttershy, crossing her arms as Fluttershy stopped a few feet in front of her. "What're you doing here?" she asked, making sure to keep all hostility out of her tone. The last thing she wanted was to seem like a jerk to Fluttershy of all people.

Especially if she meant what she said, which was something Sunset Shimmer was still on the fence about.

Fluttershy struggled to speak for a minute before she finally got the words out. "A-are you transferring to Crystal Prep?" she whispered.

"How'd you hear that?" Sunset Shimmer asked. She wasn't sure if Principal Celestia would announce that kind of stuff, or answer if anyone asked.

Fluttershy gulped. "I...overheard Principal Celestia talking about it...and I kind of put the pieces together. S-so, is it true? You go here now?" To Sunset Shimmer's light surprise, Fluttershy didn't seem too concerned that she was going to a rival school, but more or less to confirm Sunset Shimmer's whereabouts.

"Yes," Sunset Shimmer said, raising an eyebrow as she eyed Fluttershy suspiciously. Despite what she said through the door, Sunset Shimmer no doubt still had a handful of reservations about her. "Why? Did the others put you up to this?"

Fluttershy looked down. "They don't know I'm here...and I don't plan on telling them," she said. Sunset Shimmer was shocked - she didn't think Fluttershy could ever go against the girls. "Then why are you here?" she asked, curious.

"...well, I just wanted to make sure you're alright," Fluttershy said. "I don't know if you heard me when I visited your house, but...I said that I don't believe you're that bully Anon-A-Miss...and I do mean it." The shy animal loving girl's voice quivered, and she wiped her eyes. "I just wanted to say...that I want to fix things, even if the other girls don't want to. But I won't blame you if you don't want to..."

Sunset Shimmer was already torn from when Fluttershy talked the day before. But hearing her honesty and genuine sorrow in her voice, as well as seeing her simultaneously... "I think I'll give it a try," Sunset Shimmer said.

"R-really?" Fluttershy said, her voice coming out as an unexpected squeak that was - dare Sunset Shimmer say it- super duper adorable.

"Yeah," Sunset Shimmer said, smiling at Fluttershy's 'excited but trying to hide it' look. "You're too nice to have an ulterior motive. I don't think I'm ready for the others, but...I'll give you a chance. Not saying I'll forgive you right away...it did hurt a lot."

"You don't need to!" Fluttershy squealed, rushing forward and hugging Sunset Shimmer at once. "Thank you thank you thank you, I promise you won't regret this, I'll make up for everything I-"

She realized how loud she was being, and her face exploded in a beet red. At once, Sunset Shimmer felt her heart grow fit to burst. Anyone's heart would go completely out of control if they ever saw Fluttershy being the adorable shy girl she was being. The two exchanged goodbyes and good lucks, and went on their separate ways, Sunset Shimmer making her way back to the car where Coral was waiting.

Coral was playing some music on a low volume in the car when Sunset Shimmer came back. "Uhh...what was that all about?" he asked. "Is everything alright?"

Sunset Shimmer just leaned back once she buckled in her seatbelt. "Yep. I think I'll be alright." She turned to face Coral with a relieved smile on her face. "So, about that burger joint..."

Author's Note

Yes, I plan on Sunset Shimmer, Lemon Zest, and Coral having a dynamic.

Chapter 7

Sunset Shimmer stepped off the bus to Crystal Prep Academy, wearing her school uniform. Apparently, it was adjustable and the rules stated that the uniforms in general can be modified however the wearer wished as long as it didn't break any guidelines.

Looking around, she could see some variable differences in some of the students' wardrobes, like one guy who wore his blazer tied around his neck like a mini-cape, or the girl who wore an expensive bead necklace around the collar of her shirt rather than a tie like the others. Sighing, Sunset Shimmer just smiled at the fact that she didn't too seem out of the ordinary.

The changes made to Sunset Shimmer's outfit consisted of leaving her blazer unbuttoned, a pair of leggings under her skirt, and the white collared shirt replaced with a standard white T-shirt that dipped just to her collarbone. She never really liked the collars, so she went with something that didn't press against her cheek every time she leaned over.

Yawning, Sunset Shimmer cracked her neck and knuckles, having woken up well over an hour early to prepare for classes at Crystal Prep.

As she walked inside with her bag, she saw a few students turn to look at her. A few stared in interest, but the rest moved on, going to their classes or lockers. Speaking of which, Sunset Shimmer looked to a slip of paper in her hands, which had her locker location and combination number on it. Despite how crowded the school seemed, she found it with relative ease, opening it and stuffing much of what she didn't need inside before closing it.

"Yo!"

Sunset Shimmer yelped and turned to see Lemon Zest standing near her, her headphones resting around her neck, a wide and mischievous grin on her face. "Jeez, I only said hi."

"H-hi," Sunset Shimmer said once she got her breathing back under control. "What're you doing here?"

"Comin' to make sure you don't get lost and look stupid, duh! Mess up once and the school's on you like a school of sharks," Lemon Zest said, plopping against Sunset Shimmer and wrapping an arm around her shoulder.

"...don't you mean a shiver of sharks?" Sunset Shimmer asked.

Lemon Zest guffawed. "Hah, shiver. Dumb word. No, a school! You know, a school of fish? And sharks are fish, aren't they?" she asked. Sunset Shimmer couldn't refute that point. "And besides, school's mega big. What's your schedule?"

"Well..." Sunset Shimmer said as she pulled out her schedule, folded up in her blazer pocket. She leaned it to the side so Lemon Zest could get a good peek at it. "Huh, we have the same homeroom. And...that's it. RIP," Lemon Zest remarked before sighing. "Well, let's get going, we're gonna be late!"

"But we still have over a half hour-" Sunset Shimmer tried to say before Lemon Zest dragged her down the hallway, Sunset Shimmer barely able to slam her locker shut before smacking her face against another open locker door on the way down. "Ow!"

They made it to homeroom class with twenty eight minutes to spare, where half the class was already sitting at their desks. After finding a desk Lemon Zest pointed out as vacant, she laid her stuff next to her seat and nursed the new small bruise on her cheek.

"Ouch, looks bad," Lemon Zest as she eyed the injury. "Anyways, you're early!"

"I could go with being ten minutes early, what's with the big time gap?" Sunset Shimmer groaned as she avoided touching her face. While bruises were annoying, they weren't really something that Sunset Shimmer liked to fuss over.

"So I can jam out for a while before I have to put my headphones away," Lemon Zest explained. And with that, she plopped her headphones back on her ears and began blasting music, rocking her head back and forth as she made her way to her seat. Sunset Shimmer just smiled before rolling her eyes and taking out her notebook.

"You're the new student?" a very flat female voice said. Sunset Shimmer turned to see a girl with white hair tied into pigtails sitting one seat behind on the next aisle. She had purple eyes and eyeglasses with orange frames, and a basic frown on her face. "How...underwhelming."

"One of those rich girls, great," Sunset Shimmer thought before clearing her throat. "Yeah, well you don't really look like that much of an attention grabber either."

The girl didn't appear fazed by the comment, only blinking at her before she looked back to the front, her expression remaining stagnantly unreadable. Looking around, Sunset Shimmer saw a handful of students eyeing her as well. "This is gonna be a long day..." she thought.

at the restaurant, several hours later -

Coral served the last bit of fried rice to the customer, scooping it up smoothly and sliding it onto the customer's plate, earning a few claps for his flawless performance. As the last of the food was served straight off the grill, he sprayed some water onto the metal to render out anything that got stuck and burnt during the performance.

It wasn't stated what Coral's job was before, but he works as a part time chef in a hibachi style restaurant, where the chefs prepare food right in front of the customers over a large grill. It served expensive food and provided a very special experience, making this a rather expensive restaurant to eat at.

Despite that, the place made good business, and Coral made enough money to stay afloat relatively well in pay and tips despite only working about half as many hours as someone with a full time job. It was rather enjoyable, cooking steaks on a grill while performing what little spatula tricks he mastered.

Plus he got to work with A5 Wagyu. Who doesn't like working with Wagyu?

He made his way to the back to grab some water, having a few minutes for his guests to eat before coming back to check up on them. Looking at the clock, he saw that it was near the time Sunset Shimmer had completed her orientation the week before. She should be getting off classes now, so maybe...

Sighing, Coral shook his head as he guzzled a bottle of water. "I shouldn't be worrying about her...especially since she can take care of herself. I'll just ask her how things went after work." Once he was thoroughly refreshed after his breather, he headed back out to his table before someone tapped him on the shoulder.

It was a coworker of his, not a chef however. "I can handle your table, can you get to the next set of guests? They've been waiting for a chef for a while now," he said, pointing to a table near the corner of the restaurant.

Coral followed his finger and spotted a table of several high school girls. He didn't recognize them, though he did note that one of them kept talking and referring herself in the third person. Sighing, he nodded. "I got it..." he said as he made his way to the table.

The next thirty minutes were the most infuriating Coral had ever gone through. While he cooked, the girls ranted. Not at him, but right in front of him. He could tell that they were from Canterlot High since they talked about Sunset Shimmer and how horrible a person she was. He seethed as they gossiped over ways she made them all suffer, as well as how they could 'return the favor'.

Coral wanted to lash out. He wanted to tell them to shut up and leave, as well as a few other 'unsavory' things due to just how rude they were being to Sunset Shimmer. What was worse was that they didn't leave out anything. Thanks to how loud the restaurant was - both business and customers in general - whatever the girls said could only be heard by themselves and Coral.

In the end, all he could do was smile and pretend it wasn't happening, answering any questions and requests they had before fulfilling them. Once they paid and were getting ready to leave, Coral sighed and got to cleaning up. He could only hope that Sunset Shimmer was doing well for herself right about now.

"Ew, a Preppie," the voice of the girl who kept referring to herself in the third person sneered.

Preppie? What was that supposed to mean? Coral turned and spotted a familiar green haired girl in the signature Crystal Prep uniform. She ignored the looks of the other girls from Canterlot High and made a beeline straight for Coral's table with a wide grin on her face. "What's up?" Coral asked.

"Ehh, just wanted to check out a place for me and the girls to hang out at. But since you’re here…” Lemon Zest said, leaning over.

“Bruh, I've only known you for...five minutes tops," Coral said. "And discounts don't work like that, not here."

"Pooh," Lemon Zest grumbled as the Canterlot girls haughtily left the restaurant. "You're no fun."

"Eh, it's the rules. So you're just scoping hangout spots?" Coral asked as he got to cleaning up the grill for the next use.

"Yep," Lemon Zest said. "Especially since Christmas break is so soon."

"Oh yeah, I forgot Christmas was around the corner," Coral said. "Damn, we're gonna be real busy on Christmas."

"Welp, rip," Lemon Zest remarked. "Well, see ya-"

"Wait, where's Sunset Shimmer right now?" Coral asked before he could forget.

"Oh, she took the bus home," Lemon Zest said. "Speaking of which, when do you get off?"

"Late at night," Coral said. "Why?"

"No reason," Lemon Zest said with a wink that Coral wasn't sure he liked very much, so he withheld what time that he would be getting off. She left moments later, and the part time hibachi chef got back to work on scrubbing the grill for the next customers.

Work ended at closing, and Coral arrived home completely tuckered out and smelling like barbeque. When he opened the door, he was greeted with the sight of Sunset Shimmer sitting at the dining room table, on his laptop and working on homework. She was still in her school uniform, though her blazer was on the back of the chair she was sitting on.

The fiery haired student looked up from her assignments in front of her and grinned. "Oh, hey!" she said. "How was work?"

"Pretty alright," Coral said, wondering if he should talk about those girls from Canterlot. On one hand, she likely wanted nothing to do with her old school, and he didn't want to upset his new roommate in any way. On the other hand...she needed to be warned about what's going on without her.

"Is everything alright? You look distracted," Sunset Shimmer remarked. "Something bad didn't happen, did it?"

Coral sighed. Might as well tell her. "Well...some girls from your old school came over. They were eating and whatnot...and talking about all sorts of stuff involving you..." he said awkwardly.

Sunset Shimmer's concerned expression slowly but surely turned into one of awkward embarrassment. "Oh..." she said as she looked away. "S-sorry you had to-"

"I'm not mad. Alright, that was a lie. I am mad, but not at you. Just at those girls. Especially one...kept calling herself Trixie and using she and her instead of me and I," Coral grumbled as he tossed off his hoodie and flopped on the couch. "Ugh...I was so pissed off!"

"Don't bother yourself about them," Sunset Shimmer said as she came over to where Coral was lying, holding her notebook and a pencil. "Come on, I'll make you dinner and we can both laugh about stupid stuff that happened today."

"You sure you won't burn down the house again while you're at it?" Coral asked. Sunset Shimmer flung her notebook at the young man as he laughed before heading back to her seat at the table, rolling her eyes. "I'll cook, then I'll shower," Coral said once he calmed down.

"Good, because I cannot cook anything other than instant noodles or cereal," Sunset Shimmer said as she went back to doing work, Coral getting up and returning the notebook to Sunset Shimmer before heading to the kitchen. There, he began prepping dinner for the night - a spicy chicken salad and loaded fries. Tossing some frozen French fries into the oven, Coral decided to start chopping up some chicken to sear on the stove.

As Coral prepared dinner, Sunset Shimmer finished the next assignment on her list and moved on to the next. "So, Christmas break is in two weeks," she said as she began writing her name on the top right of the page. "Any plans for then?"

"Yeah, we close for the week Christmas is around," Coral said. "So I'll have a chance to relax then. Why, got any ideas?"

"Well..." Sunset Shimmer said as she looked to Coral, who had just dumped the cubed chicken onto a ripping hot pan before stirring and tossing. "Wanna have a little Christmas party of our own?"

Coral turned to face Sunset Shimmer. "Huh..." he said. "Sounds good. Never had a party since...well...since I still lived with my parents."

"Do your parents wanna attend?" Sunset Shimmer offered.

"They...don't live around here," Coral said as he readied the salad. "I moved out so I could go to college here. Haven't heard from them since. Eh, they're probably fine. What about you? Got any parents?"

Sunset Shimmer was just about to ask Coral more when he brought up her family. At once, she cut herself off before she could bring the conversation further down the road of family. "Yeah...but same situation as yours, they don't really live here. Well...they're really far away, contacting them has been hard."

"I'm sure they're alright," Coral said before throwing some ground beef into a pan and beginning to fry. Before the conversation could continue, the doorbell rang. "Huh? Who's here?" he asked as he lowered the heat on the stove, wiping his hands with a towel before making his way towards the living room.

Sunset Shimmer wondered if it was Fluttershy, or if it was Lemon Zest who somehow followed her home, but decided to shrug it off and go back to doing her homework, admiring the smell of what Coral had been cooking earlier.

Coral opened the door before frowning. "You," he said in a pretty dark tone. Sunset Shimmer peered to the door to see an unknown man. He looked older than Coral by a few years, and he looked like your typical high school bully as seen in the 90s movies. He looked buff and had a resting smirk face.

"Come on, just wanted to pay my old buddy a visit," the man chuckled as he crossed his arms. "How've you been?"

"I'm fine. How did you find me, Pounder?" Coral asked angrily. Sunset Shimmer winced at once, and she quickly turned back to the laptop when she heard a cocky and smarmy laugh come from the visitor.

"Asked a few friends from our old school," the visitor, apparently named Pounder, said as he looked around. "Nice place you got, mind if I..." He trailed off when he spotted a head of flaming golden and red hair behind a laptop. "Well, hello there..."

Sunset Shimmer turned to see Pounder strutting his way towards her, as if he were trying to look cool when in reality, it looked like he couldn't turn his torso or his waist. "And who's this gorgeous girlie?" he asked, leaning on the table, his hand smack on the homework that she was working on.

Sunset Shimmer had only been flirted with once before, and that was when she first arrived in the human realm. Needless to say, she didn't like it. "I'm Sunset," she said briefly. "And you're on my homework."

"Bah, homework's for losers. Like this guy," Pounder snorted as he looked down, spotting her school uniform and narrowing his eyes lecherously. "Let's ditch this place and I could show you a good time if you get what I mean."

Eugh.

"Hah, no thanks," Sunset Shimmer said, hiding her grimace. "Now please move, you're in the way."

Pounder apparently never got rejected before, because the douche of a man turned red in anger and crumpled up the paper his hand was on. "You're coming with me," he said, as if that would make her change her mind.

"Get lost before I call the cops, Pounder," Coral said as he leaned on the door. "You came in when I said you couldn't. That's trespassing. Plus, she's a high schooler. Wanna get arrested for being a predator?"

Pounder turned to Coral with a nasty glare before slowly heading back to the door. But not before knocking over and shattering a vase and shoving Coral against the door, slamming it in the process. Sunset Shimmer moved immediately to help her roommate and friend up. "What the hell is his problem?"

Coral rubbed his head tiredly as he sat up. "Pounder's a bully from elementary to high school. He was an asshole as a kid," he grumbled as Sunset Shimmer pulled him up to his feet. "He's the one who caused my friend to..."

Sunset Shimmer's rage only grew. "He caused someone to die?!" she roared. "Oh, that's it! I'm gonna-"

"Just...can we let it go?" Coral asked. Sunset Shimmer blinked at hearing his tone. Coral normally sounded casual and chipper. At times, he sounded tired and lazy. At very rare intervals was he mad. But now, he sounded...vulnerable. His voice was quaky and quiet.

The anger Sunset Shimmer felt drained almost instantaneously, and she moved to hug him. "Sorry...will you be alright?" she asked.

"I'll be fine. Just have to deal with him being around," Coral said quietly. "Thanks." The door knocked once again, and Coral sighed. "Who is it?!" he called towards the entrance.

"..."

"Hello?!" Coral repeated.

"...it's Pinkie Pie. C-can I come in?"

Coral turned to Sunset Shimmer, not knowing that name but knowing it sounded familiar. Sunset Shimmer leaned Coral against the couch and stepped over the shattered vase to get to the door. Opening it, she saw a completely deflated Pinkie Pie standing on the porch, hands behind her back as she rocked on her feet back and forth.

"Can I talk to you?" the saddened pink haired high schooler asked.

Chapter 8

Pinkie Pie sat with Coral and Sunset Shimmer at the dinner table, looking down awkwardly. "And so...you believe her now?" Coral asked, an expression of doubt and concern on his face. Sunset Shimmer looked pretty cautious, her gaze no doubt scrutinizing as she eyed the girl.

Pinkie Pie nodded wordlessly. Coral and Sunset Shimmer looked to each other for a few seconds, before turning back to face the upbeat girl turned downbeat. "And why did you change your mind?" Sunset Shimmer asked. She knew her wariness must have shown because Pinkie Pie more or less winced.

"I...I thought about it," Pinkie Pie whispered. "And I realized it doesn't make sense for you to do something like this-"

"Oh, now you realize that!" Sunset Shimmer snapped, immediately causing Pinkie Pie to jump in her seat in a brief spout of fright. "You didn't even let me say a word and you just believed what everyone else said! I'm not surprised that you're just now thinking about this!"

Pinkie Pie's mouth gaped open and shut for several seconds, as if she were trying to find an excuse for her behavior, before she stopped. "You're right," she said. "I didn't think. All I thought about was how much I...I wanted payback..."

"And you didn't think at all that it couldn't be her?" Coral asked, raising an eyebrow. Pinkie Pie just stayed still, and Coral sighed. "Where did all this go wrong?"

"Look...say you really think it isn't me," Sunset Shimmer began, hands clasped together as she stared down Pinkie Pie.. "What makes you think I can trust you to not lure me into some stupid means of false payback with your friends?"

"I...I don't know," Pinkie Pie said. "But I wanna fix things-"

"Fix things?!" Sunset Shimmer cried as she stood up, almost leaning over to the already terrified pink haired girl, before Coral grabbed her arm and pulled her back down, shaking his head. Sunset Shimmer's anger gave way to closed eyes and a few deep breaths. "Sorry...I lost control for a second..."

"No, you have every right to be angry at me...what I did was worse than breaking a Pinkie promise," Pinkie Pie whimpered, and Sunset Shimmer raised an eyebrow at that. One of the worst things that Pinkie Pie thought could possibly exist was someone breaking one of her most fabled Pinkie promises. If she said what she did was worse than that, then there was no room for any thought that this was faked.

Sunset Shimmer couldn't forgive her, but she could at least give her the chance. Fluttershy got one, after all. "Listen. I don't want to be friends with you again," she said, and Pinkie Pie's face fell - which was somehow off-putting, considering how depressed she already looked. "BUT. But, I will give you a chance. Just...don't tell the other girls. They'll go after me and Coral again, and they might do something worse to you."

"But...the girls-" Pinkie Pie spoke up, ready to defend her friends.

"I know, they're your friends. But they won't believe that I'm innocent," Sunset Shimmer said as she sighed. "Look, I'd just rather not risk it, is that alright with you?"

Pinkie Pie looked down, clearly thinking about this, before gulping. "Yes," she said, a bit more determination in her voice as she straightened up. Her hair looked flat and depressed, but at least she no longer looked like she was on death row anymore.

Sunset Shimmer sighed as she leaned back in her chair. "I don't know if this is a good idea or not," she groaned.

"We'll see," Coral said. He still distrusted her, though not as much as Sunset still did. Still, he could see Pinkie Pie's honesty fairly clearly as well. "Anything else you wanted to talk about?"

"No. I just wanted to talk, is all," Pinkie Pie said as she got up from her seat. "I'll get out of your hair. Homework and stuff to do."

"Hey, Pinkie?" Sunset Shimmer called as their guest walked to the door. Pinkie Pie stopped to turn and face Sunset, who had a small grin - an uneasy grin, but a grin nonetheless. "Thanks. For what it's worth."

Pinkie Pie smiled back - a sad smile, before she left, closing the door behind her. As Pinkie Pie walked down the sidewalk, she heard the door lock, before she got on her phone and opened up the messages app. Picking a contact, she began to text as quickly as she could.

Pinkie Pie: Fluttershy, I think I know how we can help sunset

About a few minutes later, Pinkie Pie got a reply.

Fluttershy: How?

Pinkie Pie: We find out who anon a miss is ourselves

In the house, Sunset Shimmer sighed as she gulped down a glass of water. "Jeez, I swear, I can't wait for all this to be over," she sighed.

"I know," Coral said, yawning as he flopped back down in his chair. "Things have been crazy as hell since this started."

There was an awkward silence for a few moments before Sunset Shimmer coughed and spoke up again. "Hey...I'm sorry about all this," she said. "I'm super grateful for you helping me all this time, but I don't blame you if you wanna get rid of me. Especially since I'm taking up so much of your time..."

"Hey, don't say that," Coral immediately interjected. "You needed the help, and I wanted to help. Simple as that. And if that comes with some baggage and a bit of inconvenience, then so be it. What doesn't come with problems?"

Sunset Shimmer looked down, before she spoke up once again. "You mean problems like Pounder?" she asked. Coral's reassuring smile dropped immediately, and Sunset Shimmer's heart leapt into her throat. "L-look, I didn't mean to-"

"No, you have a right to ask. Pounder is an asshole," Coral explained. He was spoiled rich and had equally entitled parents. I don't know if things are still like this now, but if your dad is on the school board of a district, then you can basically ask for anything and everything you want. Good grades, free lunch, etcetera."

Sunset Shimmer winced, remembering how the uptight nobles of Canterlot tended to be super demanding, as well as very bitchy when they didn't get what they want. She hated most rich ponies when she was in the city - she had a firsthand - or firsthoof back then - look when it comes to ponies or people born with a lot of money, and the tendency to throw it around.

"Eugh," Sunset grumbled. "Trust me, I get a lot of stuff like that where I grew up. Parents and their spoiled rich brats demanding this and that."

"Yeah. If I recall, Pounder's dad was born into the millionaire life. Was probably super annoying and spoiled as a kid too. I hated it," Coral said as he leaned his upper body on the table, resting his head sideways on his folded arms. "And that meant his 'sweet angel of a son' could get away with everything, including bullying. Pounder didn't know when to stop either."

"What do you mean?" Sunset Shimmer asked.

"It means he became the cruelest son of a bitch out there by middle school. He and his cronies would steal lunch money and anything remotely cool from other kids. He did things like throw garbage in other people's yards, tell other kids to off themselves," Coral said, and Sunset Shimmer knew exactly why he winced like that. "I didn't see him again when I got to high school, good riddance. But I doubt he ever did anything good."

"That's pretty obvious," Sunset muttered, shuddering at his horrible flirting, then his forceful behavior when she said no to the smug guy. "I still can't believe someone could have the audacity to do...that..."

"I know. I don't really what his problem is, but I'm pretty sure he picked on us because we were 'poorer' than him. He used to call us pretty shitty names too. Stuff like garbage and broken," Coral said. "Look, he did all sorts of crappy things to us, but that was before. I'd rather not deal with him - it brings up a lot of problems for me."

"But he's back," Sunset pointed out. "Ignoring this won't do anything anymore."

"And if he shows up again, the police gets involved," Coral replied with a frown. "No school will keep him safe from the law if he tries something stupid. I meant it when I said I'd call the cops."

Sunset Shimmer didn't seem very convinced, but she decided to let it go. "Alright. Just...when you need help, let me help. I know you say I don't owe you anything, but I really do, let's face it," she finally conceded.

Coral sighed tiredly. "Alright," he said as he got up. "Come on, let's focus on something else. Like homework. Or video games."

Sunset Shimmer wanted nothing more than to help Coral with his past, but she instead nodded - looking away awkwardly as they changed the subject.

1 week later: after sports practice in Canterlot High -

Gilda frowned as Pounder approached her from across the street. "You. What do you want?" she mumbled as she shoved her basketball inside her bag before slinging it over her shoulder. She'd just left basketball practice with the Canterlot team about ten minutes prior, planning on driving home right away.

At least, that was her plan before he showed up.

Gilda was built more muscularly than most girls in Canterlot. She was very toned in terms of her thighs and arms, and she went for a more rough look for her hair as well - dying the naturally white tips of her hair dark brown, while cutting it very short.

"Just wanted to catch up, that's all. Don't be such a sourpuss," Pounder said as he grinned at the basketball player, eyeing her jersey and shorts with a hungry eye. Gilda stifled down a shudder as she angrily looked back at him. "So, what have you been up to, lately?"

"High school, what else? What about you, still sucking at getting a life?" Gilda spat as she walked down the sidewalk, away from Pounder and towards the parking lot. Unluckily for her, Pounder started following her. "Look, I already warned you, I don't wanna see your ugly mug again."

"Come on, we had good times, remember?" Pounder goaded as he caught up to her stride - which more or less caused her to go faster, at least until he grabbed her arm and yanked her back. Gilda spun out and shoved him away with her other hand, her face contorted in an ugly snarl. "Come on, you don't wanna talk about it?"

"Not after what you did, asshole," Gilda snarled.

Pounder growled before he sighed. "Fine. Nothing about that then. But I have heard about something else," he said as he changed the topic. "I heard about all the shitty dates you had. And I mean all of them." Gilda spun around at once and stormed down the sidewalk. Once again, Pounder caught up with her, refraining from grabbing her again like last time. "I'm guessing it's bad, huh?"

"Bad? Pounder you piece of shit, it was all supposed to be secret!" Gilda ranted as she clenched her fists - her sneakers being anything but sneaky as her steps pounded the pavement. "Then that Anon A Bitch goes and spreads them?! She ruined everything, the fucking bitch!"

Thanks to Anon-A-Miss, Gilda now had a reputation for being a "player", a girl who hooked up with guys and girls left and right on the weekends on dates, and sometimes more. When Anon-A-Miss had posted the pictures that blatantly exposed the things she did with who she did them with, her scholarship with the college of her dreams was revoked, and her parents had punished her very harshly - taking away her allowance and confiscating all the checks she made at work, as well as taking away any opportunities to partake in any basketball tournaments in the foreseeable future.

It definitely didn’t help that Gilda had lost most of her friends because of this - some because they were dealing with their own problems caused by Anon-A-Miss, but others because of her wide orientation.

Pounder just grinned. "And who's this Anon A Bitch?" he asked.

"Sunset Shimmer," Gilda growled as she reached the parking lot. Getting to her car, she unlocked it and practically forced herself into the driver's seat, throwing her backpack angrily in the back seat. "Piece of fucking shit, once I get my hands on her-"

Pounder held the car door open as Gilda started her vehicle, the engine sputtering on with a rumble, then a roar. "I don't know, you might have the chance very soon," he said. "I happened to meet this Sunset Shimmer a while ago."

“So?” Gilda grumbled.

“I know where she lives,” Pounder revealed.

Gilda's eyes turned to face the buff young adult. "You're fucking with me," she said.

"I'm not," Pounder retorted, his grin widening. Gilda's eyes narrowed as she thought over his words, wondering if they were truthful or not. On one hand, he was an absolute dickhead and a womanizer with a really bad penchant for bullying, having seen and experienced some of it when she knew him, even when compared to someone like Sunset Shimmer. He could easily be lying just to have some more fun with her.

On the other hand, Sunset Shimmer had started her old ways, targeting everyone on the basketball team and exposing her own horrible secret. Her hands clenched over the old steering wheel as she thought about how much she wanted to tear Sunset Shimmer a new one for utterly destroying her future and much of her privileges at home.

After a few minutes of thinking, Gilda finally turned to look at Pounder, a gleam in her eyes. "You'd better not be fucking lying to me."

Crystal Prep Academy's Main Library: several hours later -

Sunset Shimmer couldn't help but yawn as her watery eyes burned through the pages of her textbook, one of several books she had to read through for the weekend assignments. Despite spending a week at Crystal Prep and its class material, she found that it was much more difficult in terms of lessons and learning material than Canterlot High ever was.

Wiping her eyes, Sunset Shimmer sniffled as she attempted to stay awake long enough to finish the page. She could always do her work at home, but Coral did take a while to get here, especially since he worked in such a demanding job. Despite that, she could only think about how above and beyond he'd been for her, especially since her former friends had barged in his house.

As she wiped her eyes a second time, she looked over the page once again, before looking to her open notebook and scribbling something in it - physics formulas for her weekend project. Surprisingly, Sunset Shimmer found that she wasn't actually struggling with the classes or the lessons themselves, just the workload and the amount of time she had to dedicate just for the homework alone.

She was so distracted that she didn't feel her chair shift. However, she did hear the little *thud* and the squeaky little "Oof!" behind her. Shaken out of her stupor, Sunset Shimmer found that a girl - a fellow Preppie - had tripped on the legs of her chair.

"Oh, are you alright? Sorry, I didn't mean to leave my chair out so far-" Sunset Shimmer asked as she got up to help the girl up, before she froze almost immediately.

Looking back at her was Twilight Sparkle, wearing a Crystal Prep uniform with her hair tied up into a messy bun - with a few locks of hair on either side of her face. Sunset Shimmer gulped immediately, almost stepping back as fear overtook her features.

"Wait, why is Princess Twilight here? How did she find out? Did the girls take her notebook and call her? Oh no, what if she's here to drag me back to Canterlot? What if she unleashes some princess punishment on me? Will I get banished from both realms? Will I get sent to the moon? WILL I GET SENT BACK TO MAGIC KINDERGARTEN?!! How could I convince her that I'm innocent? What do I do, what do I do, what do I do, what do I do-" Sunset Shimmer's thoughts were running at over a thousand miles a minute, thinking of nothing other than how utterly screwed she was.

However, she was once again shaken out of her stupor when she heard a grunt. "S-sorry, I didn't mean to trip! I just need...I just need to get my glasses," Twilight Sparkle said. Sunset Shimmer saw now that she was on all fours, her hands patting the floor as she looked for something. That something became obvious when Sunset Shimmer spotted a pair of thick eyeglasses with black rims sitting a few feet away from Twilight's groping hands.

"Oop! Sorry, that was still kind of my fault. Here, let me get those for you," Sunset said as she went around Twilight and snagged her glasses, before putting them in the half blind girl's hands. Her face lit up as she did so, and she got on her feet at once - putting her eyewear back on her face.

Squinting for a few seconds, Twilight Sparkle blinked several times before she sighed. "Phew! I'm not losing those again," she said with relief before she turned to see Sunset Shimmer awkwardly waiting in front of her. "Oh, hello," she said with a shy wave. "I'm Twilight Sparkle. And you are..."

"Oh! Uhh, Sunset. Sunset Shimmer," Sunset introduced - trying to keep her voice from shaking as she fought down the urge to ask how Spike was, or if Princess Celestia was still being a good teacher. "I'm a new transfer from around last week. I don't think we share any classes though."

"Me neither," Twilight said with a slight grin before she reached her hand out. "Still, it's nice to meet you! Heh heh..." The awkward giggle caught Sunset Shimmer by surprise, but she thought very little of it as she reached over and shook the lavender skinned girl's hand.

"This must be the other Twilight - the Twilight Sparkle of this realm," Sunset Shimmer thought as she looked at the shy girl in front of her, still shaking her hand. "That's a relief, though I'm surprised she's at Crystal Prep. Actually, never mind, some fancy rich school would definitely be her kind of school."

"R-right," Twilight Sparkle said awkwardly, and Sunset then realized she didn't answer Twilight yet. "O-oh!" she finally said, jolting Twilight as she spoke up. "It's nice to meet you too! Sorry, I'm just lost in thought is all. I've been stuck on physics and it's been super annoying.."

"Oh, if you'd like, I can help you with that!" Twilight said a little too eagerly. "It's one of my best subjects. I'm not too sure if I can be a good enough tutor, but I have plenty of notes, and I have really neat handwriting. And if your assignments include experiments, I can totally-"

"Twilight, you made your point. You don't need to ramble," Sunset said as she giggled at the nerdy response. Twilight's cheeks flushed in a cute and embarrassed burn as Sunset just smiled. "I'd be happy to-"

She felt her phone vibrate in her blazer pocket, and Sunset's smile dropped as she was interrupted. "Sorry, just gotta take this," she said. Pulling out her phone and opening it, Sunset read the notification she had just received. As a few seconds went by, her expression morphed from confusion and irritation to shock and horror, her fingers trembling as Twilight immediately took notice.

"S-Sunset? Is everything alright?" Twilight asked nervously as she peered over Sunset's shoulder, before her eyes widened at the message.

"I-I gotta go!" Sunset cried, ignoring the several "Shhh!" noises from the other occupants of the library as she packed up her things as quickly she could before booking it out of the library. Twilight gulped as the girl bolted through the door before sighing.

"I hope she's alright," she thought as she recalled the few words she managed to read out before Sunset broke into a panic.

"HOUSE ATTACKED. ROBBED."

Author's Note

I apologize for the wait, I've gone through some pretty existential things over the past few months alongside classes. I appreciate the patience, and I'll try to update sooner - though these Anon A Miss type stories tend to have pretty slippery slopes, so I'll try not to suck with this story.

Chapter 9

Sunset Shimmer reached home an hour and a half later, seeing a few police cars and several people on the sidewalks as they stared at the house illuminated by the flashing red and blue lights of law enforcement. Before she could even get close, she could see the damages - a fractured front door, porch and side windows shattered, and splatters of oddly colored gunk all over the walls and the roof.

Coral's vehicle was parked behind one of the police cars on the sidewalk, and Sunset pushed through the crowd as she got closer to the house. "Coral!" she yelled, frantic and scared. "Coral, where are you?!"

"Here!" Coral's voice shouted, and a hand raised in the air, waving. Sunset Shimmer rushed over, nearly bowling over a police officer in the process in order to get to him. When she saw him, unharmed and shaken up, she tackled him in a hug, arms squeezed tightly around his body. "You're alright...you're alright, you're OK..." she whimpered as she buried her face in the crook of his neck.

Coral hugged back, awkwardly but with just as much force. "How did you get home?" he asked.

"I took the bus," Sunset Shimmer whispered. "And I ran the rest of the way back. What happened? Were you attacked?"

"No, I got home to see the police here. Someone called the cops when they saw the house getting vandalized," Coral said as he broke the hug, a worried smile on his face. "We were both out today, lucky for me. Or unlucky. Maybe if I were here, they wouldn't rob us."

"What did they take?" Sunset Shimmer asked.

"All of the cash not in the safe," Coral said as he looked down. "A few hundred dollars and a dozen in coins. They destroyed the television and stabbed the video games. Tables and chairs are broken and the sofas are ripped up. Walls got hammered too. My figures were destroyed too."

"So they only wanted to destroy stuff?" Sunset Shimmer asked. "But who could...no..."

"I think so too, but I'm not saying a thing without proof," Coral said, and Sunset wanted to smack his face for such a dumb reply.

"Coral, you have to! If there's no leads, the police won't try and do anything!" Sunset Shimmer protested. "Make him a suspect, there's no way he isn't!"

"Sunset, I..." Coral said. "I really don't want him going after us again, even if it is him. Do you know how much money he has?"

"We don't have to lay down for him! We can fight him! Uhh, security cameras! Better locks, window protection, better insurance, I don't know!" Sunset cried, and Coral immediately took note of how frantically she was behaving.

"Sunset, calm down!" he finally said as he grasped her shoulders.

"I can't! I spent so long terrified that you'd be hurt or dead! I can't go through that again, I can't!!" Sunset screamed, before she stifled a sob with her hand, her body wracking as she tried to remain composed. Coral tensed up as he felt guilty at once for snapping at her. "You're my only friend now..." Sunset cried. "You helped me when no one else would...if you got hurt and I couldn't do a thing about it..."

"Sunset...I'm sorry," Coral whispered as he hugged her again, allowing her to break into full out crying in his arms. "I know you're worried...I just don't want whoever did this to come back again...otherwise you might be home and I won't be..."

"Excuse me." Coral looked up from the other side of Sunset's head to see a police officer awaiting them. "I apologize for interrupting you, but this is pretty important."

Sunset pulled away, wiping her eyes. "Talk to them...I'll be fine," she said shakily.

"Sunset, I-" Coral said before she shook her head, a sad smile on her face.

"I'm not mad, I promise," she said. "We can talk again later." Coral stared at her, before sighing and turning to the officer and speaking with him. Sunset Shimmer slowly took a deep breath with a shudder before she collapsed against the side of the house, hands wrapped around her knees as she tried to recompose herself.

Hours passed, and Sunset found herself questioned as well. She was questioned about why the house would be attacked and where she was when the attack occurred, which she found out was a mere half hour before she received the message of the robbery and vandalism in the first place. She answered every question she could and talked about the suspect with the most potential to do something about this.

She talked about Pounder and what little Coral told her in the prior week, how he was a horrible bully growing up, and how he had visited the house earlier, trespassing and breaking some things in the house before he tried to harass and hurt her on that same day.

When the questioning stopped, Coral and Sunset were recommended to stay at a hotel near the city - very much closer to Crystal Prep and a tad bit closer to the restaurant Coral worked at. It took two hours to pack their bags in the bedroom - which was fairly easy considering that only the living room, dining room, kitchen, and hallways were attacked. Apparently, they had been interrupted when the sirens started blaring.

The entire drive to the hotel was completely silent between Sunset Shimmer and Coral, the sounds of traffic and city life around them remaining as nothing but a blur between the two of them. It was midnight by the time they arrived at the hotel, and Coral checked in at once. "Payday was yesterday, so I got my paycheck a few days ago. Thankfully, I never cashed it in yet, and I have all my cards with me," he explained as they brought their bags inside. "Also, work knows about what happened."

"What now?" Sunset Shimmer asked as she set her backpack down by the somewhat television. The hotel room was moderate in size, with two twin beds, a desk, a small fridge, and a single chair. The bathroom was small as well, next to the window with the air conditioner and a closet across from said bathroom.

"They're giving me four days off. I have to talk to my college professors as well, maybe set up a counseling appointment for situations like this," Coral said as he pulled out his home laptop - which was thankfully in his room - before setting it on his desk. "Then I need to talk about payments from the insurance company, get back into contact with the police for investigations and stuff, all sorts of stuff. It's kind of a mess."

Sunset winced at all the work Coral got saddled with as a result of his being a victim. "Will you be alright?" Sunset Shimmer asked as she watched Coral open the laptop and turn it on.

Coral grinned. "I can handle this - that's what the days off are for," he said, his tone reassuring. "You worry about school and stuff."

"But what if it really is more than some robbery? What if they really are after us, and they come here? What can we do then?" Sunset Shimmer asked. Coral's grin dropped. And for once, he didn't have an answer.

As the two fell asleep on their own beds later that night, Sunset Shimmer stared up at the ceiling as the weight of everything that had happened remained on her mind. As she spent the next half hour drifting off, all she could do was wonder how she could help Coral.

Fluttershy looked away as Rainbow Dash entered her room. "Hey...Shy?" she said. "Sorry for...well, being such a stick up the ass."

"W-what do you mean?" Fluttershy asked nervously.

"I mean, I've been so obsessed with the whole Anon-A-Miss thing that I've been ruining our get-togethers," Rainbow Dash said, looking rather embarrassed. “I know you’re the Element of Kindness…and all I’ve done is rant and rant and make things hard on you too...”

Fluttershy immediately shook her head at her apology, a bit flattered. Crude as the sports girl may be, but she's one of the nicest girls Fluttershy knew. “You’re just angry. I know you don’t hate Sunset…just what has been going on.”

“I don’t know, Flutters,” Rainbow Dash said as she sat next to her childhood friend and leaned on the bed. “I really thought she changed for the better…”

“Because she has,” Fluttershy wanted to say, but knew she couldn’t - not yet. At least, not outright. But she needed to start standing up for herself, especially since her friends needed to know the truth. "I know, Dashie," she whispered. "It shocked all of us. But...I still think something's wrong with Sunset Shimmer being Anon-A-Miss."

"Fluttershy...look, I really didn't want it to be her either, but I don't see how she can't be-" Rainbow Dash began in exasperation.

"Have you seen her when she still went to school?" Fluttershy said, her voice shaky. "She was miserable. Why would she keep doing it if it would result in her being beaten around a few weeks back?"

"Beaten around? What're you talking about?" Rainbow Dash asked, confusion etched on her face.

Fluttershy blinked. "You didn't know?" she asked, before she winced. "Of course she didn't know...Rainbow Dash would never let someone get hurt, no matter how guilty that someone was."

"No! Sunset was really getting attacked? How did I not notice that?" Rainbow Dash said, a bit worried now.

"Yes...I saw it a few times," Fluttershy whispered as Rainbow Dash's eyes widened in surprise. "I tried to stop them once, but I got shoved."

"Why wouldn't you tell us this was happening, or that you got hurt?" Rainbow Dash asked, nervous and very concerned for her friend. "We would have protected you!"

"B-because Sunset Shimmer deserved to be defended!" Fluttershy blurted out. "And you wouldn't believe that it isn't her!"

"But the secrets, the only one who was at the sleepover-" Rainbow Dash protested.

"Why would she do that?" Fluttershy squeaked. "Why would she expose our secrets in a way that made her look like the bad guy? Why would she continue to do that if it meant everyone would turn on her and hurt her in so many ways?! Why?!" She began to break out into coughing, not usually used to her voice getting this loud.

Rainbow Dash immediately grabbed a water bottle from her bag and handed it over, and Fluttershy grabbed it and drank it down, all while her rainbow haired friend stared, a bit concern but most importantly, in deep thought. As Fluttershy set down the bottle, which was now at half capacity, she sighed. "I don't believe it's Sunset Shimmer," she finally said after a few minutes of silence. "Because I think someone else is trying to frame her for this...someone who probably still hates her."

"I dunno, Fluttershy," Rainbow Dash muttered, a bit less confident now. "She was the only one who could have heard about those secrets. Applejack said so."

"Maybe someone else was spying on us, then," Fluttershy said, uncharacteristically stern. "But it doesn't explain why Sunset Shimmer would ever do this. I saw her, she was put through the worst pain anyone could possibly go through before she moved, and-"

"Moved? What do you mean, moved? Her house?" Rainbow Dash asked. "Wait, how come we haven't seen Sunset in the past week?" Fluttershy took a deep breath as she looked down. "Fluttershy?"

"That's because she transferred to Crystal Prep Academy. I...I heard that Principal Celestia did it..." Fluttershy confessed, shocking Rainbow Dash.

"Then why didn't you tell us?!" Rainbow Dash cried out.

"Don't you remember the last time we went to find Sunset Shimmer?!" Fluttershy cried back. "We invaded someone's home and yelled at her! If you went to Crystal Prep to do that..." She fell silent, and Rainbow Dash found herself slowly calming down at those words.

"...yeah," Rainbow Dash whispered.

"Dashie...we're still friends. I'm not betraying you for Sunset...I just want Sunset Shimmer back, because I know for a fact that she's innocent, she's always been innocent," Fluttershy said as she sighed, finally calming down. Rainbow Dash was silent for a minute, and Fluttershy's brow furrowed in concern. "R-Rainbow Dash?"

"I just need to think, alright?" Rainbow Dash said. "C-can we clock out for the night? Busy day tomorrow and whatnot."

Fluttershy looked down. "Yeah. Good night..."

"Good night..."

"I'm gonna go out and get a job on the weekend!" Sunset Shimmer announced the next morning.

"Bwuh?" Coral said as he woke up moments later. Snorting and wiping his face, he coughed once and sat up, eyes half closed as he felt how heavy his eyelids were. "Huh?" he said as he slowly woke up. Sunset Shimmer stood at the side of the bed closest to him, hands in her pockets as she waited for him to properly respond.

Sunset Shimmer was wearing purple pajamas - which were a pair of slim fitting purple sweats and a purple top with a sun emblazoned on the front. Her hair was the ultimate definition of bedhead, sticking up, left and right, some of it covering her face while the rest seemed wrapped around her neck at awkward angles.

"I'm going to try and get a job so I could start bringing in some more money," Sunset Shimmer said as Coral rubbed his eyes. "Something simple, easy to work and part time so I don't mess up my school schedules."

“I mean, are you sure?” Coral asked, a bit more awake. It was super early in the morning, and his vision was too blurry to look at the alarm clock. “School and work can be pretty painful. And Crystal Prep has a lot of schoolwork.”

“I know, but I need to help. I think I’ll go mad if I let you do everything,” Sunset Shimmer said as she crossed her arms. “Plus, the schoolwork over at Crystal Prep is manageable, and I'm a good learner. Is that alright with you?”

Coral looked confused before he sighed and rubbed his eyes once again. “You know, you actually don’t need my approval for this. And I guess I’m being dumb if I think I can actually keep us afloat by myself.”

"So, you're actually going to accept help?" Sunset Shimmer asked, feeling rather victorious that her words came through.

Coral smiled sadly. "With everything that's happened...what choice do I have?" he asked. The feeling of victory seeped away from Sunset at once, and she frowned.

"There's nothing wrong with saying yes to getting help, you know," Sunset said. "It doesn't have to be a last resort in any situation."

"I know, I'm just used to doing stuff on my own," Coral sighed. "It's not a bad feeling, just weird."

"Well, get used to it. I'm gonna be helping out for a long time to come," Sunset Shimmer said, smiling brightly. Coral smiled back, this time a bit more positively before he got out of bed, stretching his arms and legs. "So, what now?"

"We get breakfast, then we see about finding you a job," Coral said. "There's some pretty nice places to work at near my work. Fast food, retail, easy stuff."

"That sounds simple enough," Sunset remarked. "So, what's the plan for after?"

"Like I said last night: calling college, then the insurance company, then the police, then a few other things," Coral said as he yawned. "Man, I need a shower."

"Same, I feel like I stink," Sunset Shimmer said as she stepped back, allowing Coral to get out of bed. There, she got a good look at what he was wearing - a pair of loose and knee high shorts and a T-shirt that was half hiked over his stomach - a relatively flat stomach. He had no abs, but he did seem relatively toned.

Sunset banished that thought immediately and coughed. "Hey, what do hotels usually serve for breakfast?" she asked.

"Uhh, you haven't stayed at a hotel before?" Coral asked curiously as Sunset began to sweat. Sighing, he wiped his forehead and sniffled. "Never mind, I keep forgetting not everyone else travels. It's mostly the same at every other hotel - eggs, hash browns, cereal and fruits, coffee and stuff, biscuits and gravy if you're lucky. Bacon and so on, blah blah blah, generic American breakfast items and whatnot."

"Uh huh," Sunset Shimmer said as she made her way to the bathroom, before her phone began to chime. Blinking, Sunset Shimmer turned to see the little device chiming on the bedside table between their beds. "Uhh, you can go shower first, I need to take this."

"Sure," Coral said as he grabbed a change of clothes and walked to the bathroom while Sunset walked over to the bedside desk and grabbed her charging phone. It was an incoming call from Pinkie Pie, and she waited for Coral to walk into the bathroom and lock the door before answering.

"Pinkie?" Sunset Shimmer asked.

"Morning, Sunset! I heard about what happened, are you alright?" Pinkie Pie chimed in with a worried tone, Sunset wincing at the volume before she sighed.

"I'm fine," Sunset replied. "Coral and I weren't home when it happened. But still. We're staying away from the house until the police can get it sorted."

"That's good," Pinkie Pie said as she calmed down. "I think it might be someone from our school. News that you were robbed somehow got around on social media."

"Uh huh. And anything on Anon-A-Miss about those claims?" Sunset asked.

"Not really. They just released a post saying that they didn't wanna talk about it," Pinkie Pie said. Sunset Shimmer scoffed at that, and Pinkie continued. "Look, be careful, alright?"

"I know. Don't worry, I am," Sunset said before falling into an uncomfortable silence. "The other girls...did they say anything about what happened?"

Pinkie Pie was silent for a few seconds before she spoke up once again. "Fluttershy wanted to ask if you were alright. I think Rarity was worried too. Applejack didn't say anything yet. And Rainbow Dash..."

Sunset furrowed her eyebrows. "What about her?" she asked.

"She wanted to know if you were hurt, and if she needed to step in. She doesn't know that we're still talking to you, but she said she didn't like that you were targeted for real pain," Pinkie Pie finished. Sunset Shimmer blinked in surprise at what she was just told. An offer of protection from Rainbow Dash?

"...I don't know," Sunset said. "Just keep it quiet for now - please?"

"Alright," Pinkie said. "Stay safe." And with that she hung up. Sunset Shimmer looked down at her phone as she thought over that conversation.

"Rainbow Dash wanted to help? No, she's Rainbow Dash - she still believes I'm Anon-A-Miss. But she's also the type to not let anyone get hurt. This is just her being helpful like she usually is..." Sunset muttered to herself. As much as she wanted to believe Pinkie Pie, she knew Rainbow Dash was one of the more stubborn girls in the group.

Better to not risk facing her again, especially with how nasty she could be when she's mad. Her thoughts were once again interrupted by the door opening. Coral stepped out, fully dressed in a long sleeved shirt and a pair of jeans. His hair was wet and steam wafted out of the bathroom doorway. "Everything alright?" he asked.

Sunset grinned. "Yeah. I'm fine..." she said as she took her change of clothes from her bag and walked towards the bathroom.

Chapter 10

Sunset Shimmer walked out of the store with a full application and a sheet of paper, as well as a bounce in her step. As she reached Coral's SUV, she slid into the passenger's seat with a smile on her face. "I got the second interview in a few days," she said. "After school hours."

"That's great!" Coral said, smiling back. "It only took from early in the morning to lunchtime of searching for a place that needs employees."

"Bah, don't worry about that. I got my interview, and I can start preparing for that. So, what now?" Sunset Shimmer asked as she buckled in - setting her papers in the backseat.

"We get lunch," Coral said as he started the car. "Come on, let's get going."

"Should we get lunch?" Sunset asked as Coral pulled out of the parking lot. "I mean, repairing the house will take a lot of money, even with insurance. And you do work part time."

"Soon it'll be both of us working part time. Plus, it's not like we can go home and cook right now, right?" Coral said. "Any place you wanna go?"

"Well...there's this little sandwich shop in the Canterlot Mall. It's cheap, and I've always wanted to go there," Sunset Shimmer said. "If that's alright with you."

"Sounds good," Coral said as they approached a red signal light, slowing down as several cars passed by in front of them, going left and right as he eyed the light. "I haven't been to the mall in a while, actually. Anything change?"

"...well, I dunno, actually," Sunset Shimmer said as she leaned back in her seat. "Honestly, I haven't been there in a while too. All I remember is that there's a clothing store and a play area. And a bunch of restaurants inside."

"Yeah, food courts are nice," Coral said as the light turned green. "So, anything specific on the job?"

About 25 minutes later, Sunset Shimmer and Coral entered Canterlot Mall, the building full of bustling people walking to and from the entrance, traffic on the second floor balconies and the escalators while businesses and stalls left and right flourished from the constant influx of customers.

"I think the food court is all the way in the back," Sunset said as they walked. The further they got, Coral noticed that Sunset Shimmer was looking around - a bit too quickly as they passed people on either side of them. It was odd at first, but now it was something Coral couldn't ignore when Sunset jerked to the right one time.

"Hey, are you alright?" Coral asked, a bit concerned.

"To be honest, I'm kind of nervous..." Sunset Shimmer whispered. "I keep thinking I'm gonna run into someone from my old school here, and then they'll start something and-"

"Hey, enough of that," Coral said. "Let's just focus on getting food. Maybe if we're lucky, we can find someone from Crystal Prep here."

"Doubt it," Sunset Shimmer sighed as she eyed the passing stores as they walked. "Canterlot Mall's the closest to Canterlot High, plus it's smack in the middle of the city. Crystal Prep is pretty far away, plus-" She froze in place when she stopped talking - Coral bumping into her as she suddenly halted. "Twilight?"

"Huh? Who?" Coral asked when he turned to where Sunset Shimmer was looking, trying to spot what or who she was looking at. She seemed to be staring at one store in particular, a clothing store that was dimly lit. The items on display were dark colored shirts with logos of animated adult shows, band names, or heavy cartoons, as well as belts, pendants, and more.

Before Coral could ask why Sunset had stopped, or who Twilight was, she walked right into the store. Blinking in surprise, Coral sighed and walked in after her. "Hey, so...what's this for?" he asked as he looked around. Metal music was playing in the background and the store's lights weren't very bright.

"I thought I saw someone here. Pretty sure I did...oh! There she is," Sunset said before she bounded off into the store with a grin. Coral gave chase before smacking himself on the face from a swinging belt display.

Sunset Shimmer reached the back of the store, where Twilight Sparkle was, browsing through a selection of something, an item in her hand. She was wearing a purple knee high skirt with white sneakers, as well as a pink hoodie. "Twilight!" she called as she came over.

Twilight practically screamed and whirled around, her ponytail slapping her in the face as she stumbled. Sunset and half the occupants in the store watched as she smacked herself on the wall before she composed herself. "Don't scare me like that!" Twilight wheezed, attempting to catch her breath.

Sunset Shimmer winced. "S-sorry," she said. "I just saw you and wanted to say hi...and to apologize."

"Apology accepted," Twilight said as she took a deep breath before attempting to fix her glasses - which were tilted on one side from that bout of panic.

"Not that. Uhh...about leaving so soon yesterday," Sunset explained. "I had a home emergency and I didn't mean to just bail on you like that..."

"Oh, no I get it," Twilight said as she waved a hand dismissively. "Home emergencies and whatnot. Uhh...I managed to see some of that text before you left, something about getting robbed. Are you alright?"

"Yeah...none of us were home at the time, so we're fine. The house is pretty busted up though," Sunset Shimmer said, clenching her fists as she thought of who likely did it. Who was she kidding, she knew exactly who did it, likely with help as well.

"That's good, at least," Twilight said, smiling as she loosened up in relief. "I imagine your parents were furious with whoever did it."

"Oh, uhh, they haven't been caught yet. And I don't live with my parents," Sunset Shimmer said sheepishly. "I only live with a friend. Coral."

"Who's Coral?" Twilight asked in confusion before a guy stumbled in, rubbing his forehead. "Sorry, knocked over a belt display and had to pick it up. What'd I miss?" he said.

"That's Coral, my roommate," Sunset Shimmer said. Twilight Sparkle looked between the taller and relatively good-looking guy, then switched to the ~~bacon~~ fiery haired girl in front of her. She switched between the guy and the girl before she blushed brightly.

"S-so, the two of you...are..." Twilight stuttered as Sunset and Coral exchanged looks. Then the realization hit them both at once and they laughed lightly for a few seconds.

"No, we aren't together. Just friends living in the same place," Sunset Shimmer said, smiling casually as Coral stopped laughing.

"O-oh! Alright, I heard about younger girls dating older guys, but I wasn't sure if that was common or not. Probably something I should look into, actually," Twilight said as Sunset raised an eyebrow.

Coral looked like he had taken a bullet to the gut at Twilight's words. "...older?" he asked as he touched his face. "Oh man, do really I look that old?"

"Twilight, the age gap between me and Coral is only like, a few years, tops," Sunset Shimmer sheepishly said as she patted Coral on the head. "Plus, I don't know how either of you would react if I told you I'm technically older than the both of you in an interdimensional sense," she added silently in her thoughts.

Twilight blushed again, her mouth sputtering like a clogged up garden hose. "S-sorry! Just the lighting and the way your face looked - n-not what I meant! I just...oh, who am I kidding, I'm terrible at this," Twilight moaned as she buried her face and glasses into her hands.

"Terrible at what?" Sunset asked, half amused and half worried as Coral finally stopped acting wounded.

"Talking to people. Making friends Fitting in. The list goes on, and I suck at all of them," Twilight muttered. "I don't really do friends...not many people like to be around me. Guess I can see why, now."

Sunset Shimmer's face softened as she heard Twilight - she knew how hard it was to fit in, especially since she tried to turn a new leaf. However, Coral spoke up before she could. "So you're a little awkward, who cares? We're all awkward in our own ways. Plus, I guess I have gained a few wrinkles from all the work," he said, and Sunset smiled at his attempt to make Twilight feel better.

"Yeah, Coral isn't too hurt - the big baby," Sunset said, a teasing smile on her face. Coral grumbled and lightly nudged Sunset Shimmer's arm in retaliation, but he was clearly in good spirits. "But seriously, don't feel so bad. Making friends is a lot more casual than you think, Twilight. It's not like a business meeting or a job interview," Sunset reassured.

"I guess," Twilight said, visibly cheering up a bit. "I just don't like screwing up so much. I always say the wrong things."

"It's how we learn. Trial and error," Sunset said, coming over and patting Twilight on the shoulder in comfort. "Plus, you haven't scared us away yet, so that's definitely a plus. Have you come here with anyone?"

"No I haven't. Why?" Twilight said, her face showing a bit of confusion.

Sunset beamed. "Cool! Wanna get lunch? Coral and I were about to head up to the food court, and we don't mind if a new friend comes along. Plus, I still need a little help with physics," Sunset Shimmer said as Coral nodded.

Twilight looked around, biting her lip as she thought over the proposal. "J-just getting lunch, right? Nothing else planned? No pranks, no dragging me to juvenile activities and whatnot?" she asked.

"Nothing more than that. We were just gonna chat and then get lunch, I promise. Pinkie Promise," Sunset Shimmer said before she felt her face contort a bit at saying that. Luckily, Twilight didn't seem to notice - and Coral didn't appear to pay too much mind to that.

Twilight smiled softly - a pretty smile. "Alrighty then, I just need to buy this first," she said as she held up the item in question. Her smile turned into a panicked grimace as she whipped the item behind her and out of view, a second too late.

Coral and Sunset managed to get a full view of what Twilight had brought up - a plastic case with a racy name on the front and a set of lacy intimates inside. "...we're going to act like we never saw that. Is that alright with you?" Sunset asked, trying not to laugh.

Twilight's face burned bright as she nodded.

The sun was burning down as a sweating and tired Rainbow Dash finished her third lap around the park - the cord of her earbuds jostling as she slowed down her jogging. Pausing her music, Rainbow Dash shook off her earbuds, wiping the sweat off her brow before she walked over to a bench, sitting down and sighing as she looked up into the sky. She was wearing a pair of black shorts and a sports bra, alongside a pair of white and blue running shoes - her phone crammed in her pocket while a water bottle hung on a clasp attached to the hip of her shorts.

Grabbing her bottle, Rainbow Dash guzzled down a few gulps of water as she felt her legs and arms ache from the break she was giving herself. Ever since that talk with Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash found it hard to focus on anything else other than Sunset Shimmer and her questionable innocence in the Anon-A-Miss debacle.

Well, it seemed appropriate to call it Sunset Shimmer's questionable guilt now, after what Fluttershy told her. Ever since that talk had happened, Rainbow Dash was trapped in her own mind throughout the night - wondering if Sunset Shimmer truly was guilty or not. She'd been jogging for about two hours now, trying to keep her mind clear, to be able to focus on things she needed to do. But it wasn't working. The mental arguments between defending Sunset Shimmer or accusing her were too much.

She thought of all the words she told her, and the misery she had seen Sunset Shimmer go through. Rainbow Dash frowned. How could she miss that? How could she be so blind to her anger that she allowed someone to suffer without giving a damn? Clenching her fist, Rainbow Dash sighed and buried her head in her hands. Even if Sunset Shimmer wasn't innocent, the thought of someone getting bullied in school made her feel sick, whether they deserved it or not.

Then again...Sunset Shimmer had caused many of problems in the past without giving herself away. She'd even broken up their group of friends without them knowing it was her for so long. Something like an Anon-A-Miss account would be so easy to keep hidden. But the account details was so obvious when it came to pointing fingers at Sunset Shimmer.

Rainbow Dash growled as the truth dawned on her. Whoever was Anon-A-Miss was trying to frame Sunset Shimmer. And they weren't even doing a good job at that, which seemed to really bite at her even more. She had fallen for it. Her friends has fallen for it. The entire school had fallen for it. How could that happen - was the entirety of Canterlot High as smart as a pile of rocks? She and her friends hurt Sunset Shimmer, and she was innocent this whole time.

If only they had bothered listening to her. Getting up, Rainbow Dash brushed herself off and walked home, trying to calm down her shaking fist as she held back the anger and regret she was feeling. At this point, Rainbow Dash wanted to bury herself in shame, to just apologize and comply if Sunset Shimmer said she never wanted to see any of them again. She wouldn't blame her if she chose that decision - it was well within her right to demand it.

"Yo!"

Rainbow Dash was shaken out of her thoughts when a familiar voice called her name. Turning around, Rainbow Dash saw Gilda Griffin - her old childhood friend and troublemaker at the time. She was dressed for exercising as well - a pair of black workout pants with white striping, a pair of shoes, and a white cropped workout top.

The two were friends at one time, but ever since she'd snapped at Fluttershy and made her cry many years ago, Rainbow Dash had broken off from her. Despite that, the two seemed to be on rather neutral terms - which Rainbow Dash was glad for, since Gilda was on the basketball team and they saw each other on a very common basis.

And Rainbow Dash didn't really look down on Gilda for her colorful past, especially since she knew how flirty Gilda got outside the team. She did feel bad over what she'd lost because of Sunset...no, Anon-A-Miss, but she wasn't about to step in and get her life back for her - fooling around with others was a pretty bad way to spend your free time.

"Hey, Gilda," Rainbow Dash greeted despondently. "What do you want?"

"Just wanted to check up on you," Gilda said. "Heard you've been pretty snappy when it comes to that Anon-A-Miss asshole. How're you feeling?"

Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow before sighing. "Just thinking," she finally said.

"On how you'd get your revenge? I could totally help with that - it's the least that bacon haired bitch deserves for ruining our lives," Gilda snarled. Rainbow Dash flinched, though Gilda didn't seem to notice. "So, what do you think?"

"Eh heh...I'd rather not get in trouble. Plus, attacking people isn't my thing," Rainbow Dash said. "It shouldn't be anyone's thing..." she added in her thoughts.

"Suit yourself. If you really don't wanna hurt the bitch yourself, you could always trash her house," Gilda brushed off. "It's what me and a few friends did the other night."

Rainbow Dash blanched at the sudden admission. "Y-you what?" she hissed, shocked at what Gilda confessed to, but not so much how bluntly she stated it.

"You heard me. We're gonna try again in a few days, and I know you probably have some words to say to her. If you want, no hurting, no beating her up, but we're definitely breaking her stuff, see how she likes losing so much," Gilda offered. "You want in?"

"W-what? You're telling me this? Me of all people?" Rainbow Dash said, shocked at the blatant reveal of Gilda's plans. And judging by her tone, Rainbow Dash was surprised that Gilda's offer was genuine.

"Duh - you know I don't do that tiptoe around problems shit. If I want something done, I wanna do it straight and forward, so that's how I'm asking you. Now, are you in or not?" Gilda said.

Rainbow Dash sputtered for a second before she shook her head. "That's breaking the law! I don't wanna get arrested - that would definitely ruin my life, no thanks!" she angrily protested.

"Seriously? That bitch tried to ruin you! Pretty sure she ruined your friends, and you know we all want a taste of payback. You can't possibly think she doesn't deserve it," Gilda pushed.

Rainbow Dash was getting mad now. "I do think I deserve not to be arrested and screwed over just because I got too angry," she answered. There was also the fact she fully believed that Sunset Shimmer was innocent, but telling that to Gilda probably would've made her and her friends a target as well.

Gilda scowled before sighing, likely having expected that Rainbow Dash really would have wanted to stick it to Sunset Shimmer. "Alright," she said. "If you wanna stay back like a wimp, that's fine. We can handle taking Anon-A-Miss down ourselves." She turned to continue jogging before she stopped and turned back to her former childhood friend. "And you won't tell the police about what we're about to do, right?"

Rainbow Dash glared at her, while Gilda's face contorted into an angry expression to match hers. "I'm serious. You won't have to be involved in this. Tell the cops, and someone else might have to get hurt," she said, the implications clear.

The staring contest didn't falter between them for a full minute before Rainbow Dash sighed, finally looking down in indignation. "No, I won't," she finally muttered.

"Good," Gilda said, her glower turning into a smile before she turned around. "See you around, captain." And with that, Gilda began to jog away.

Rainbow Dash waited for Gilda to leave before she took out her phone. "I'm not telling the police, but you didn't say anything about telling my friends. And if they happen to call the police...well, that isn't on me," she thought as she dialed up Fluttershy. The cellphone rang for a few seconds before there was a pick up on the other end of the line. "H-hello?" she heard her quiet animal-loving friend whisper.

"Hey, Fluttershy? I just talked to Gilda, and she told me this..." Rainbow Dash began. She was done standing by as this happened - she needed to try and do something to help.

The food court in Canterlot Mall remained busy after they left an hour and a half later, a few hundred people chatting and eating at tables and counters left and right. Twilight Sparkle and Sunset Shimmer were chatting about whatever school project they needed to complete, while Coral was just looking around, content with being a third wheel as the girls talked.

Twilight and Sunset had hit it off during their lunch talk - talking about classes and such, as well as things that they liked and whatever. Coral didn't pay too much attention during that time, but he did seem to notice how happy Sunset was when they chatted. When they said goodbye and went their separate ways, Sunset was smiling brightly.

"So, did you have fun today?" Coral asked.

"Yes, dad," Sunset replied. "Where to next?"

"Well, it's around the afternoon, so...I don't know, go back to the hotel?" Coral asked. "Not much else to do, and I don't feel like spending more money or gas. We'll figure dinner out somehow."

"Hmmm," Sunset Shimmer mumbled. "Yeah, I could use a nap or something like that." Coral shrugged as the two began to make their way out of the mall. The mall was a little less busy when they made it to the parking lot, and the sun was a bit lower in the sky.

As they pulled out of the parking lot, Sunset Shimmer yawned tiredly, leaning back in her seat. "Hey, Coral?" she muttered.

"Mhm?" Coral asked.

"I'm glad we're friends," Sunset said. Coral didn't say a thing - but Sunset was fairly certain that he was smiling.