Bloody Ether

Chapters

S.O.S
A New Start
Hibernation
Surveillance
Rock Bottom

S.O.S

Author's Note

S.O.S

It's weird how everything can go so wrong, so fast.

Just a week ago Sunset had a blast with her friends on a sleepover and now she had been trying to get through the days without being beaten within an inch of her life.

There were many questions swirling through her head, but no matter what she did, she couldn't get any answers for any of them, and the cold air and snow didn't help her much either. She walked through a part of the town she hadn't been in before in an attempt to avoid the other CHS students on her way home, even though she could easily get lost there. Her head was pounding with questions, her body was aching because of the cold and her eyes were full of tears. Not of sadness, but by the feeling of betrayal.

Not long after the whole Anon-A-Miss thing started and people began resenting Sunset for something she didn't do. Depression wasn't unfamiliar to her, but last time she had her soon-to-be friends there for her. Although, now it was different. Now she didn't have anyone to pull her out of it and she had considered just ending it, but just a few days prior to the present she found the solution. She decided to leave Canterlot high and enroll at Crystal Prep Academy.

She had sent an application for enrollment a few days ago and yesterday she received a letter of approval. The only downside was that she had to stay at CHS until the holidays came, although it was kinda also only a minor downside as Christmas break was just a day away.

Sunset was suddenly pulled out of her thoughts as she felt herself bump into something and fell onto the cold snow covered ground. When she looked up she saw a girl adjusting her glasses sitting in front of her, obviously the one she bumped into, who was looking at her with an exprecition almost mirroring her own. Sunset's cyan eyes locked with the girl's violet eyes for a brief moment before both of them began to get up on their feet again.

"Sorry I didn't watch where I was going." the girl excused as she looked away slightly in shame.

"No, it's not your fault. I was too lost in thought to notice you." Sunset replied as she pulled at the sleeve of her jacket to straighten it.

The two girls apologized again, said their goodbyes and parted ways without further discussion.

'Why was her face covered in tears like that?' the girl thought as she looked back to see Sunset disappear around a corner.

'Why did she look so familiar?' Sunset thought to herself as she continued on her way down the road.

Sunset skipped school the next day by reporting herself ill, while in reality it was just to get away from her tormentors.

Looking at herself in the mirror she grabbed a box of depression pills standing on the sink. For a while she just stood there eyeing the box as she thought back, bringing only painful memories. The pain made her feel a deep sorrow and that sorrow soon turned to an intense stress, which in turn eventually erupted into rage. On impulse she threw the depression pills across the room, while she screamed in agony. She ran out of the bathroom and threw herself onto her bed before an ocean of tears ran from her eyes.

Minutes passed slowly and Sunset didn't move until her tears ran dry. By that point she was almost too tired to even move. Moving her head she looked to her alarm clock to check the time.

"9:45 PM? Goddammit..." she groaned as she rolled onto her back. "Why did it have to be me?"

At CHS Principal Celestia and Vice-principal Luna were sitting in the former's office looking at Sunset's absence note and her application for student transfer.

"Luna, something tells me Sunset isn't actually ill today."

The principal's younger sister didn't verbally respond, instead only giving a slight nod.

"How could we let it get this far?" the elder sister said to herself as she put the papers down on her desk.

A knock on the office door pulled both sisters out of their thoughts as they sighed.

"Come in." Celestia said in a monotone.

An all too familiar girl stepped into the office with a look of both curiosity and regret.

"Is it true that Sunset is transferring to Crystal Prep?" the girl asked with slight hesitation in her voice.

"Yes, that is true. Why did you want to know?" Celestia asked with slightly narrowed eyes.

"I... wanted to apologize to her." the girl answered with tears starting to form in her eyes. "I don't know who this Anon-A-Miss is, but it can't be Sunset. I know that now."

Celestia's stern demeanor fell at the girl's show of genuine sadness.

"Hmm, I doubt she'll listen by text or letter and it's not a small town either. Neither do I believe going to her home will work. I can't really see any way for you to apologize in the current situation. You'll either need a lot of luck or you need to transfer as well, but I don't think the latter is a good idea." she surmised.

The girl's hands were almost trembling as tears fell one by one. She knew Celestia was right, but she had her own thoughts about it.

"The way I see it, this school has almost gone to hell and I know that this won't just disappear over the holidays. I can't stand the thought of continuing like that. Surrounded by people blaming an innocent. I'll go ahead and transfer too." the girl said with no sign of second thoughts in her voice.

Celestia only sighed as she looked at her sister, who nodded to her.

"Fine, I'll get in touch with Crystal Prep's principal and help you get the transfer approved." Celestia said dismissively.

The girl just nodded before exiting the office.

A New Start

Christmas had passed painfully slow for Sunset, but thankfully Christmas break was over and she was finally starting at Crystal Prep. The school uniform would take some time getting used to, but other than that she was happy to be free from the hellhole of her previous school. Here she was a complete stranger. Nobody would judge her from anything she had done. That was her hope at least, which turned out to be true.

When she came to the school's lobby nobody knew her and every face was new. It was a breath of fresh air to finally enter the school lobby without getting angrily eyed by every single soul present.

Walking down one of the hallways she found her assigned locker and opened it without a ton of hate-letters falling out. She breathed a low sigh of relief as she hung up her jacket inside and closed the locker. Pulling out the school schedule she set course for the History class that was starting soon.

After a few minutes she found the right classroom and entered. It wasn't the most impressive classroom, but it wasn't bad either. It matched the look of the building with the crystal decorations, but other than that it was just a normal classroom.

"Ah, Miss Shimmer. Please, take a seat." a lady's voice came from the direction of the blackboard.

Sunset looked in the direction of the voice and saw the teacher looking at her with a smile. Not saying a word, Sunset walked over to the only open desk and sat down.

"Class, as you can see, we have a new student with us today. Her name is Sunset Shimmer and she transferred here from Canterlot High." the teacher said as she gestured to where Sunset sat.

Sunset got a little uncomfortable with all the attention she got from the other students turning to look at her, but managed to give a small smile and a wave in order to make a good impression.

"Sunset, my name is Chrysalis and I'm going to be your History and English teacher." The now named teacher introduced herself before turning back to the blackboard. "Now, since this is just the first day after holidays, I've decided we'll do something fun. We're having a group project."

There were mixed reactions to this, but most seemed okay with it. Sunset didn't really mind, but just hoped it wasn't a subject she found hard.

"You'll get to choose a group and subject yourself as long as it falls under one of the chapters we've been through so far." Chrysalis said as she wrote down the criteria on the blackboard before turning back to the class. "Without further discussion, go ahead."

Reaction was immediate as some students stood up and walked to the ones they wanted to be in a group with. When everyone had taken a seat again, the only ones still sitting in their original place was Sunset and a girl sitting to her left. Who had her face almost planted in a book.

"Sunset, why don't you go together with Twilight there." Chrysalis said as she pointed to the girl beside her.

Sunset looked to her left and froze.

'That hair, those eyes. Can it be?' Sunset thought before she shook her head and moved her chair over to the very familiar girl's desk.

Twilight was still reading her book when Sunset sat down by her and she didn't really acknowledge her presence. Instead she just kept reading.

'Okay, calm down Sunset. She's most likely this world's version of Twilight. No need to get worried.' Sunset thought as she lifted her hand and placed it on the top of the book before lowering it.

"Twilight, I assume." Sunset said as she looked at the girl who now took notice of her.

"Huh? Uh.. Yeah?" the girl fumbled slightly with her words. It was pretty obvious that she wasn't the most social person there.

Once Twilight got a good look at the fiery haired girl in front of her it was her turn to freeze for a moment.

"Haven't I seen you somewhere before?" Twilight asked curiously as she thought back to that day before Christmas break when she bumped into an absolute wreck of a girl.

"I don't know. You do look familiar." Sunset said with slightly narrowed eyes. "Anyways, care to fill me in on what you've gone through in history so far?"

"Okay, hold on." Twilight said as she put a bookmark on the page she was on before closing the book and putting it into her bag. Afterwards she pulled out a schoolbook. "Let me see here." she skimmed through the pages quickly.

"We have gone through the French revolution, the American Civil War, WW1, and Prohibition." Twilight said when she looked up from the notebook.

"Hmm, many things to choose from there." Sunset said in thought. "Any suggestions?" she asked the bookish girl in front of her, who was also deep in thought.

"I'm not sure. Do you think World War 1 would be too easy or too obvious?" Twilight questioned looking up from her notes about said topic.

"It largely depends on what you choose to talk about. The Battle of the Somme, Verdun and Passchendaele would most likely be too obvious, but things like the Attack of the Dead Men, T. E. Lawrence, and the RMS Lusitania would probably be better options." Sunset explained as she scratched her head in thought.

"I guess that makes sense." Twilight said before she reached out her hand. "I'm sorry I didn't introduce myself. My name is Twilight Sparkle."

Sunset almost bit her tongue in order to prevent herself from saying 'I know' as she shook Twilight's hand.

"Sunset Shimmer."

Twilight cracked a small smile as she turned back to her notes to find a subject they could talk about.

"What about the Gallipoli campaign?" Twilight offered.

"Hmm, hold on a second." Sunset said as she got her bag and fished out a coin. "Heads: Attack of the Dead Men. Tails: Gallipoli Campaign."

Sunset flicked the coin into the air before catching it and placing it on the top of her hand.

"Tails."

Lunch soon came and as usual Twilight was sitting by herself at a lone table. She had gotten used to it by now as she wasn't that interested in making friends. She didn't really expect anything more than being alone about the entire day, but then the unexpected happened. Looking to her right she saw Sunset sitting down beside her with her own lunch. This didn't go unnoticed by everyone else in the cafeteria as they looked at the two girls sitting by themselves.

Twilight felt extremely uncomfortable with all the eyes looking at her and she sank slightly into her seat, but then she felt Sunset's warm hand on her shoulder. Looking up she saw the fiery haired looking at her with a warm smile. Twilight couldn't find a way to respond as she just sat there looking at Sunset.

"Don't mind them. They just don't know how to adapt to change." Sunset said reassuringly before she turned back to her lunch.

Twilight didn't move for a few seconds, but soon she looked back to her own lunch and began eating, feeling slightly more confident in herself. She shot a small glance at Sunset, but looked away again when she saw the girl looking back at her. Twilight could feel her cheeks grow slightly hot as an embarrassed blush grew on her face.

Hibernation

Author's Note

Hibernation

The fifth day came, and Sunset no longer had to be scared of the day ahead of her. It was a breath of fresh air for her. No need to worry about someone beating her within an inch of her life because that damned MyStable account put out an embarrassing secret. Not like she cared anymore. She was finally free from that, she could put all behind her and move on.

She was walking down the street towards the school when she suddenly bumped into someone. After recovering from the fall she looked up to see Twilight sitting in front her.

"Is this going to be our way of meeting each other or what?" Sunset jokingly said as she helped the bookworm up on her feet.

Twilight blushed in embarrassment. "I hope not."

The two walked together the rest of the way while trading jokes and talking about interests and other things. You know, what friends do. The two had become friends quickly and it was beginning to be common to see them sitting together during class, lunch, etc. Sunset must have had some form of influence on Twilight, since the girl now styled her hair in a ponytail. No one knew why exactly the girl decided to do it, Twilight herself would shrug and say that a little change now and then never hurt anyone.
On their way to school the two never noticed a girl behind them going the same way, but staying out of sight.

"It's good to see you happy again Sunset. I just hope you and I can bury the hatchet when we meet again." the girl said to herself as she headed in a different direction to avoid being seen by the fiery haired girl.

Gym class wasn't the most fun thing, especially when it was Sombra that decided activities, but Sunset managed to keep herself on her feet. Twilight on the other hand had a harder time keeping up. Sunset helped where she could, but most of the problems were because of Twilight's lack of training.
One student in her class by the name of Indigo Zap reminded Sunset a lot of Rainbow Dash, just with an even more extreme competitiveness and an even bigger ego. How that was even possible, Sunset had no idea, but neither did she want to find out.

The day continued on an even pace and Sunset was really starting to feel at home with her new school.
It was like going into hibernation to wash off her sins and wrong doings to come out as a completely new person. It felt good to finally be free from the chains of her old school, she could finally breathe at last.

Science class came and it was here that Twilight really was at her best. She and Sunset were almost equally good, with Twilight being slightly better.
The two were put together for a group experiment where they would test for four different substances. There were four different cups with white powder-like substances in them. If it turned brown by heat it was sugar, if nothing happened it was salt, if it began making a hissing noise and bubbled when a drop of vinegar was added it was baking soda, and if it turned a very dark blue when iodine was added it was potato flour.

Twilight and Sunset were quick to finish and offer explanations as to why the reactions happened. The teacher (Discord) wasn't surprised about Twilight being good at it, but he was mildly surprised at how equal Sunset was in knowledge.

After lunch Sunset was heading for the classroom when Twilight stopped her.

"What is it? Isn't this where the next class is?" Sunset asked curiously.

"Yes, but Discord told me that you and I should head for my personal room for advanced math study as he is also the math teacher, and after seeing how equal we were in science he decided that normal math would be too easy for you." Twilight explained.

"You have a classroom for yourself only?" Sunset asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Well, no. It's more of a laboratory." Twilight answered as she led Sunset down the halls to a door that she opened to reveal a room that had multiple machines and other contraptions standing on a table by a cork pinboard full of pictures of different things connected to a picture of CHS.

"It was originally a group room, but when I excelled at multiple topics they decided to give me this room for personal use. And they switched the standard door with one that had a key lock on it, so no one else could get in." Twilight continued to explain as she sat down by one of the open desks in the room.
Sunset walked up to the pinboard and looked at it close. There were multiple energy readings and statistics showing energy spikes over time. If she was to guess, it was probably the magic that had been used there.

"That place is weird, I've been trying to find out what these energy spikes are, but I have no explanation so far." Twilight said, now standing beside Sunset looking at the pinboard before she redirected her eyes towards Sunset. "You went to that school before, didn't you?"

Sunset merely sighed. "I don't want to talk about it, there are too many bad memories." she said as she turned around and sat down by the desk Twilight had put her math books on. Twilight looked at her with a confused look as she came back to the desk.

"Now that we're on topic. We bumped into each other two days before Christmas and you looked like a mess. What happened?" Twilight asked, wanting an answer.

"Twilight, please. Let's just continue on with our studies." Sunset said with a slight hitch in her voice.

"Sunset, I may not be a social girl, but my family has taught me that bottling something up for too long can lead to disaster. Just tell me, let it out." Twilight said, trying her best to get an honest answer.

"Twilight, stop-"

"No, Sunset. I can tell you're hiding something that is eating you up on the inside. Whenever you see one of the Shadowbolts your eyes get cloudy and you avoid eye contact. In class you would look down if anything about CHS or a topic you had learned about at that school was brought up. Please Sunset, just tell me-" Twilight tried her best to sound understanding and kind, but she was suddenly interrupted by Sunset slamming her fists onto the desk.

"I SAID I DON'T WANT TO TALK ABOUT IT!!!" she almost roared, but just as quickly as it happened her anger disappeared and her eyes watered in an instant as she stood up and leaned on the wall before sliding down into a seated position. From there she just started to cry rivers worth of tears.

"I-I'm so-sorry..." Sunset said between sobs as she continued to cry into her hands.

"You weren't ready to tell me were you?" Twilight said as she mentally slapped herself for pushing her new friend like that.

"No, i-it's okay. Y-you saw through me. You deserve a-an answer." Sunset said as she tried to halt her tears.

Twilight shook her head a little as she sat down beside Sunset.

"You can have my shoulder to cry on if you need it." she said and no sooner was she in a tight embrace from Sunset who was crying her eyes out.

After Sunset's tears ran dry she told Twilight all she needed to know, minus the whole "pony from another world" thing. How she used to be a bully until someone helped her see the errors of her ways. She told of the good times she had with her new friends before it happened. How a user on MyStable had exposed a ton of secrets and dumped the blame on her. Leading to her getting harshly disowned by her friends and getting beaten almost bloody every day.

"I was originally going to excuse my teary situation as a break up with a boyfriend if you ever brought it up, but I guess I'm just not that good at masking my emotions." Sunset chuckled half-heartedly.

Twilight chuckled slightly in response. "I've heard of those situations. People seeing a source for information and only believing that and their own opinions. I like to call it "Trojan", because it almost works like the Trojan Horse. So unassuming on the outside, but inside lies a dark secret that will destroy everything. Like a disease it spreads and turns everyone against each other." Twilight said with insight.

"If you weren't so anti-social when I first met you, I would've thought you've experienced it yourself." Sunset chuckled.

"No, I've seen it happen to some of my classmates a few times, but that was usually not as bad as you had it." Twilight answered as the two just sat there in silence for some time.

"Should we get back to our studies?" Twilight asked as she looked at Sunset who was sitting with an arm around her in a friendly embrace.

"Please, just a few more minutes." Sunset said in a fake sleepy voice as if she was being woken up by her parents on a Monday morning.

Twilight couldn't help but laugh.

Surveillance

Author's Note

Surveillance

Sunset's life had taken a turn for the better since day one at Crystal Prep and her mental health had improved greatly. She had made a new friend and her teachers were nice (aside from the principal). This was truly the new beginning she needed.
The only thing that made her feel uneasy at times was that she felt like someone was watching her. She hadn't seen anyone when she looked over shoulder when that cold feeling crept up her neck and nobody had told her that someone was watching her. So, Sunset was ultimately torn between what she believed.

"Sunset? Are you okay?" Twilight asked when Sunset once again looked over shoulder.

"Huh? Yeah, I'm okay." Sunset answered as she waved a dismissive hand.

"Are you sure? You've been looking over your shoulder a lot lately." Twilight said with a slight mix of suspicion and worry in her voice.

"I..." Sunset briefly considered pulling a lie, but ultimately decided against it, "I don't really know Twilight. I've been feeling like somebody's watching me during breaks."

Twilight raised an eyebrow at that.

"Yeah, I know, it sounds silly." Sunset said with a sigh.

"No, that's not silly at all. The same happened to me not long ago." Twilight said reassuringly.

"Wait, really?" Sunset asked, unsure what else to say.

"Yes. A few months ago I began to get the constant feeling of being watched, despite never seeing anyone. I soon found out that it was Indigo Zap trying to find a way to ask for study advice without being seen because it would've been a blow to her pride. Of course, everyone knows it now, so now she can just ask for advice out in the open." as if on cue the dark blue haired athlete came around the corner and up to Twilight.

"Hey Sparkles, I really need some help here. I have a math assignment due tomorrow and I just can't wrap my head around these equations." she said as she lifted a sheet of paper with some unfinished math problems.

Twilight studied the problems before she set down her backpack and pulled out a notebook. She scribbled something on it before she ripped the page out and handed it to Indigo. The girl glanced over it a few times before she put it and her math assignment into her own backpack.

"Thanks. I wouldn't be able to make it without this." she said as she began to walk away, "I'll hold off a seat for you and your friend when lunch comes."

"I thought you said that you didn't have any friends." Sunset said with a chuckle.

Twilight let out a nervous chuckle as she rubbed her left upper arm. "I do help Indigo Zap every once in a while, but we're not friends. Sure, she acts like we're friends at times, but that's not the case."

Sunset just chuckled before she lay a hand on Twilight's shoulder, "Let's see how long you can stand by that statement." she said with a grin.

Twilight just let out another nervous chuckle as they started to head towards history class. Twilight suddenly got a cold feeling creeping up her neck and looking behind her, she could've sworn she saw a figure disappear around the corner. She didn't have enough time to make out any details other than that it was someone she had never seen before.

"Hey, Twi! You coming or what?" Sunset asked when she noticed that the bookworm wasn't following after her.

"Huh? Yeah, I'm coming." she said before she turned back to her friend and followed after.

Meanwhile down the hall, around the corner, a girl was standing with her back against the wall with a rapid breath.

"That was too close." she said to herself before she turned and walked the opposite way.

Lunch break arrived and true to her words, Indigo Zap had made sure to keep two spots open beside her and when she had noticed the two people the seats were meant for she had waved them over. Around the table except Indigo Zap herself were four other girls.
The first had light pistachio green hair with lime green streaks, amber eyes, pale amaranth skin and on her head was a pair of pink headphones (must be listening to heavy metal by how much she's headbanging).
The next had almost white hair with arctic blue streaks that was tied up in two long ponytails, grayish orchid eyes, grayish phthalo blue skin and she was wearing a pair of orange glasses.
After that was a girl with grayish mulberry hair with light raspberry streaks, light turquoise gray skin and cerise eyes.
The last had moderate rose hair with a grayish aquamarine streak tied in a single and long ponytail, her skin was a pale and grayish gold, and lastly her eyes was a moderate indigo.

Sunset sat down beside the headbanging green haired girl, while Twilight sat down beside Indigo. A few seconds of awkward silence followed before Indigo spoke up.

"You're new around here, right?" she asked Sunset just to get a conversation going.

"Yeah, I transferred last week." Sunset answered as she looked around the table. "Who are your friends?"

"Well, the one next to you is Lemon Zest, double ponytail there is Sugarcoat, next her is Sunny Flare and lastly miss-moody is Sour Sweet." Indigo said.

"Those were very bad nicknames." Sugarcoat stated bluntly, while Sour Sweet just glared.

Sunset chuckled a little before she felt an elbow bump her left arm. She looked to see Lemon Zest holding her headphones up to her.

"You gotta hear this." she said with a smile before Sunset grabbed the headphones and put them on her head.

As soon as she did Lemon pressed play on her phone and a fast drum came on before the vocals suddenly came and set into the chorus.

"Deutschland! Mein herz in flammen-!" the German vocals rang out as Sunset partially pulled off the headphones.

"You like Rammstein too?" Sunset asked, which made everyone present silence themselves.

Sunset suddenly felt a little uncomfortable as she pulled the headphones off completely.

"I don't think you know what you've just done Sunset." Indigo Zap said with worry in her voice.

Sunset turned to look at Lemon Zest who was sitting mouth agape for a short while until her expression slowly turned into a beaming smile.

"Did I do something wrong?" Sunset questioned, not really wanting to know the answer.

"You recognized a heavy metal band." Sugarcoat bluntly answered.

Sunset felt her breath stop as her eyes looked back at Lemon, who now had a smile that could possibly challenge Pinkie's.

"OH MY GOSH!!!" Lemon shouted in excitement and the next thing Sunset knew was that she had been tackle hugged by the green haired girl.

Lunch passed and it was back to class. Sunset and Twilight were heading for the latter's "lab" talking about plans for the future.

"I want to become a head scientist of Canterlot's pharmaceutical corporation due to my knowledge of anatomy.

"That's one big dream. Not impossible for someone like you." Sunset said with a smile.

Twilight laughed. "You can aim for that too, you know? Your knowledge has been almost parallel to mine according to our teachers."

Sunset had to let out a laugh of her own. "I'll consider it." she said looking at Twilight, not really paying attention to where she was going.

"Sunset! Look out-"

Twilight's warning came too late as Sunset collided with another student, dropping her math books in the process.

"Don't tell me this is how I'm going to meet almost every single student here." Sunset said in slight annoyance, but that annoyance disappeared when the other student's hand reached and picked up Sunset's book.

Sunset looked up and froze in place. The girl in front of her was unmistakable. The skin colour, the hair, the eyes. The only thing that was unfamiliar was the school uniform.

"I-Impossible...You..?" Sunset could barely get her words out as she looked at the girl.

"H-hello Sunset." the girl said simply with a saddened look.

Rock Bottom

Author's Note

Me, after finishing this insultingly short chapter after almost 2 years:

Rock Bottom

"Have ya lost yer damn mind?!" Applejack almost shouted at the girl with a mix of shock, confusion, and anger.

Applejack and a girl were in a heated quarrel that almost radiated off them and lifted the room's temperature. Their friends were looking on with Fluttershy hiding behind her bag. If she was smaller she would've crawled into it and closed it.

"No, I haven't! Sunset is innocent, I just know it. You should as well, Element of Honesty." the girl responded, spitting the last part out like it was laced with poison. "You didn't even try to listen to her. And you completely blew up when she just suggested that it could've been your sister."

"Don't ya even dare! Apple Bloom would never have done such a thing." Applejack snapped. "Are ya even listening to yourself right now!?"

"I do, and I know perfectly well what I'm saying!" the girl snapped back. "It is you who's in denial!"

"Ah ain't in no denial! If not Sunset, then who could possibly be behind this?!" Applejack practically roared. "Ah can't even understand where in hell ya got that idea!"

Their argument continued on and on with no natural end in sight as the minutes ticked by. Their friends tried on multiple occasions to break them up, but they weren't even acknowledged and any attempt at intervention only seemed to spur them on.

"Sunset trusted us, she was our friend!"

"She was lyin' to our faces from the first day! She never considered us her friends!"

"Yes, she did! We were her friends. Aren't friends supposed to stay together and support each other instead of pinning blame?!"

"Not with a backstabbin' vermin like her! She was most likely plannin' to humiliate us like this from day one! How can ya even be sad she's leavin'?!"

"You tell me! How would you feel if I decided to leave?!"

Sunset couldn't believe her own eyes. Right in front of her, in a Crystal Prep uniform, was one of her former friends. For a short moment, she thought she was seeing things, but the look of this girl was unmistakable. She had never met anyone with a look even close to resembling her.

Had it been any other place under any other circumstance she would most likely already have been swearing up a storm, but the sheer unlikeliness and the sudden appearance was enough to leave her speechless. She couldn't get anything out, it was as if her vocal cords had completely shut down.

The girl looked away as she handed over the book, which Twilight took. The girl rubbed her arms as tears began to form on her face as she averted her eyes to prevent eye contact.

"I'm sorry... I'm not ready yet." Her voice was borderline whispering as the words barely registered, a few tears began to roll down her cheeks before she squeezed her eyes shut, turned around and ran off, not daring to look back.

Sunset was still in shock as she continued to stare in the direction the girl had run off to, she only snapped out of it when Twilight tapped her shoulder.

"Huh?" was all that came out of her mouth as reality came back to her.

"Are you okay Sunset? You zoned out there," Twilight explained as she tugged slightly at Sunset's arm to get her to follow to her lab, which took a few moments.

"Y-yeah, I'm alright... I just didn't expect to see her here" Sunset answered as she followed after Twilight, still in shock over what just happened. 'Out of all people, why is she here?!' she thought to herself.

"Who was that girl anyway?" Twilight asked curiously as they made their way towards her lab.

"Remember those old friends I talked about? She was one of them." Sunset answered.

"Oh..." was all Twilight could say as they fell silent while walking down the corridor.

The girl had barely gotten around a corner before she felt as if her legs gave in and she sat down by the wall, hugging her legs. The tears were now streaming down her face as she struggled to control her breathing.

'It's too sudden, I can't face her, but now she knows I'm here. At this rate, I'll never get to apologise. I'm such a coward, I couldn't even look her in the eyes.' her thoughts spun like a raging storm as her tears flowed like a raging river. 'Is this what it feels like to hit rock bottom? They say you can only go up from that point, yet I feel I can still fall further down.'

She continued to cry for several minutes not registering anyone that tried to approach her until a familiar voice made itself known.

"Hey, you're going to be late, you know what happens if the teacher finds out..." The girl looked up and locked eyes with her classmate.

"H-hey Indigo..." the girl croaked out.

"What happened?" Indigo said as she came over and crouched down in front of the girl.

"N-nothing, just tell the teacher I'll be late for class, please?"

"The way you're crying doesn't seem like "nothing" to me," Indigo said before letting out a sigh. "Look, you gotta do it soon, she knows you're here now as well."

"I know... I just... need some time." the girl said as she rubbed her eyes trying to stop her tears.

Indigo sighed once more as she stood up. "I'll let the teacher know. Try to hurry up at least."

"Thanks, Indigo... I owe you." The girl answered.

"Anything for a friend. See ya around!" Indigo said as she began to walk away. but before she rounded the corner she turned around. "Although, if it doesn't get better, you should take the rest of the day off."

"No, I'm fine, but thank you for the advice." the girl answered as she forced a smile.

Indigo easily saw through it but decided not to press it, she rounded a corner and for a short moment, she leaned against the wall and listened to the sniffles of the girl before sighing once more as she headed to class.

'I just hope you know what you're doing, Rainbow Dash.'