Author's Note

Hi hi!
Just wanted to give a bit of a warning as this chapter has a big boy sad ending and does have a graphic suicide attempt scene, so read at your own discretion.
A lighter note though, i'm excited to being closer to scit-twi! I've got things planned ^-^
Also all concerns for consequences will be answered in due time, Mrs. Cake don't fuck with delinquents.
Thanks so much for reading it means alot!
Please comment and interact, I love hearing your opinions and story building help! :)

Chapter 6. The Regret of Pointing a Finger

It had been a stressful Friday morning for many of the students and faculty at Canterlot High School.

The two principles of the school had found themselves in a high state of anger, disappointment, worry and many other negative emotions they were sure the sirens would have a feast on if they were here. In front of them sat three young freshmen, who had confessed to being ‘anon-a-miss,’ along with providing the women all the accounts that payed them to post secrets. The sistering principal’s were also made aware that the student, Fluttershy, was out of class due to a panic attack, thanks to ‘anon-a-miss,’-no, thanks to Applebloom, Scootaloo and Sweetie Bell. The three girls made sure to make one last damaging post of a certain shy student drunkenly singing at a slumber party, the Thursday night before turning in themselves and the account.

“Do you girls have the slightest idea of what you’ve done? You caused mass hate of segregation across the student body, which led to three suspensions, and an explosion. I should expelle you right now!” The vice principal said, her voice rising along with her anger. “Don't forget you've caused a fellow student to be severely bullied and harrassed!”

“We were not the only ones involved, yes we started it but we didn't want to take it so far! Other students started sending secrets and offering to pay, we were in too deep and panicked.” Applebloom tried to defend.

Luna stared at the young girl in disbelief, “So you've been soliciting secrets? That's your excuse?”

Scootaloo spoke up, “I-it's not like that. We-we didn't know what else to do. We were going to stop it only after a week but then Sunset Shimmer started getting bullied after we framed her and then we got scared of what would happen to us, so…”

The vice principal raised a hand and massaged her temples, “I cant believe what I’m hearing.” Luna said, beginning to pace. The head ruler of the school finally looked up after processing the morning's news. The cyber police had been less than helpful, not caring much for ‘silly’ teenage banter. “Luna, I will handle these three, please go check on our student in the infirmary.” Celestisa said with a strange calmness. Obeying her sister, Luna exited the office not sparing a single glance towards the preteens. All they could think was what they were going to do if expelled.

Pacing quickly down the hall a short ways, Luna heard a wailing along with three voices offering reassurance to the crying girl and one promising threats about an accused girl.

“When I get my hands on her she'll be dead! This shit has gone on too far and too long!” A raspy voice yelled with anger. The vice principal took a deep breath trying to get a hold on her anger before dealing with the five teenagers that have so faithly abandoned their friend. Luna opened the door and approached the five teenagers.

“Ladies-,” the women started to say only to be cut off by a cyan skinned athlete, “She's expelled right? Like, she's gone, not welcomed onto campus again?! She better be.” Luna simply crossed her arms, “Ms. Dash, aren't you suspended, what are you doing here on campus?” Rainbow Dash gapped. The evening colored women simply rolled her eyes, “If you ask me they should be expelled but that is up to the principal and since the girls are so young, Celestia will most likely go soft on them.” The bluish-lavender woman said with an eye roll.

“Them?” The pale pink haired girl said, removing her hands from her face exposing her blood shot eyes.

“Girls? As in multiple?” A southern voice an octave lower than Applebloom’s questioned.

“Miss.Luna, are you saying someone has been aiding, ugh- her?” Rarity said with conviction. Luna was growing very tired of this, the blaming, they really have no clue, “The three girls confessed this morning, Sunset Shimmer was not one of them. She has had nothing to do with it. I'm sick of you all unjustly pointing the finger at that girl for things she did in the past as if you haven't done something before too, not even before but just recently.” The group of friends started to gain some worry and guilt in their systems.

Pinkie Pie, since the beginning of the week, had completely straight hair and had mostly lost all her color appearing to be boring shades of gray now, “Vice principal, who was it really?” Fluttershy spoke up, “Yea, please tell us.” Pinkamena said. The three opposing girls who sistered the real secret-sharers looked at Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy with shock.

Luna took a deep breath not sure how the girls would react to the news, “Applebloom, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo all confessed to being the accounts owner this morning.”

Silence.

More silence.

Fluttershy started to sob, Pinkie Pie had returned to her state of staring off, how she's been all week.

Rainbow Dash barked out a laugh, “Vice principal it's not funny to joke like that about students.” Applejack said nothing as she stared off in thought, Rarity held a hand over her mouth in shock.

“What have we done?” The cowgirl said as she brought her hat over her face, tears beginning to fall.

Friday’s school day had passed by with melancholy, regret, and guilt staining the air of the building. The student body hadn't been told the full truth of who was behind, ‘Anon-a-Miss,’ just that it was three freshman girls and Sunset Shimmer was truthful in not involved and never had been.

The five girls gave each other a look of guilt and regret before silently parting to make their ways home, not bothering to hangout after school today. Rainbow Dash had long gone home due to her suspension, before leaving she refused to look at Scootaloo, thus revoking the offer in giving the girl her usual ride home, leaving Scootaloo to ride the bus. Applejack and Rarity were also giving their sisters the silent treatment. They drove their sisters home, quickly turned off their respective vehicles and stormed up to their rooms. All three girls' guardians had been made aware of what had happened. What their children had done.

The preteens had yet to be given their punishments, Principal Celestia explained that would be revealed during the following Monday's parent conference.

Luna paced her office, after the school hours, riddled with guilt. Sunset Shimmer hasn't shown up to school since monday. It was her fault. The five girls she had encouraged her to speak with obviously went south. The concerned woman had tried calling and texting the phone number Sunset had put down in her documentation, but she didn't even know if that was a real number. Luna had to find the girl, check in on her, do something.

A soft knock came and followed by the office door opening, Celestia entered her younger sister's office, sitting down with two cups of chamomile tea.

“Here, drink some, we both know it'll help.” The regal voice of the aurora haired women said.

“How can I at a time like this? Sunset Shimmer hasn't been to school in four days, sister, she's never missed a day since she has been here. And after I encouraged her to do something? What if she's hurt? In pain? In need of someone? Yet we don't know where she is because there's no way she lives at a junkyard like her papers suggest.” Luna saud with her pace and speaking getting quicker.

Celestia gave a long sigh, “I know sister, trust me, I’m worried too, I don't want anything bad to have happened to her. Since tomorrow is Saturday, we can go out tomorrow to try to find any clues for where Ms.Shimmer could be, okay?”

The younger sister relaxed a little, “Okay, yea we should do that.” After agreeing and finishing their tea the two sisters headed out of the school. Luna trying to find hope in finding the teen she had come to care greatly for.

Fluttershy walked into the animal shelter with her head hanging low. She got to work immediately hoping to get her mind off things. She got to feeding all the animals, starting with the furry creatures, moving on to the feathered ones, then to the scaled animals. Passing through the snakes she got to the lizards and geckos section, looking up she saw a familiar looking leopard gecko, ‘Ray?’ Suddenly her memories from this morning before her panic attack hit her.

~ ~

She had been so angry and sad. ‘That…that bitch!’ ‘Sunset’ had been betraying and going after everyone, she should have realized she would be targeted eventually too. Fluttershy had always been impulsive when she was angry as it doesn't happen often. ‘She wants to be a meanie to me? Fine! A meanie like her doesn't deserve a pet! Poor Ray! He shouldn’t be forced to be around such a negative and awful person.’ With these thoughts running through her head she impulsively called the animal shelter.

“T-this is Fluttershy, I’d like to report a case of neglect and abuse.”

~ ~

The sensitive teen stood, dumbfounded, looking at the gecko, even more guilt flooding through her subconscious. Looking at Ray he looked so sad, the yellow leopard gecko was curled up into a ball in the back right corner of the tank, his back turned to the front.

Fluttershy started a sprint to the front office of the animal shelter. There she saw a bright yellow skinned woman with fluorescent blue hair tied into a messy bun standing there, “Dr. Fauna! There's been a mistake! The leopard gecko, Ray, that was brought in today, turns out the case of abuse that was told was a lie! He needs to be returned to his owner as quickly as possible! -um, please.” Dr. Fauna stood shocked for a moment, “Oh, I'm actually looking at his paperwork now, the animal patrol gave a report on the state of the home and his equipment there. It makes sense it was a lie, everything for him was in good condition, no signs of mistreatment at all, only thing was the owner is homeless. Unfortunately we have to keep him here a full forty-eight hours long, it's a part of protocall, despite it being proven false or not.”

The pastel yellow and pink teen held her head down, tears filling her eyes, “...Oh. Okay.” Fluttershy sulked back to where she left off. Guilt eating away at the regret filled teen, she sobbed, she felt like she not only betrayed Sunset in the worst way possible but also herself.

~ ~

This Friday morning had been tough for the amber skinned teen, the girl's brain had not allowed her any sleep. Each time her mind allowed her to slip away a night terror would follow, from her former friends and school peers jumping her, to the fears of Glidas gang, to her crimson demon toughting and finally killing her. Sunset had stayed in bed all morning, sleeping after taking nearly ten sleep aiding pills in less than an hour.

Sunset had been suddenly awoken by a knocking at her door. The fiery redhead sat up with a confused look on her face. ‘No way there was just a knock at that door. It's a rusty abandoned factory, why would anybody be interested in it? Let alone knocking?’

The knocking sounded again, this time more firm and loud. “Open the door, ma’am, this is animal control, we have been made aware you are here.”

Sunset sat with her jaw open in shock and looked over at Ray, he was still munching on his insects she fed him earlier. The knocking had been turned into pounding. The shaking pale golden teen got up and made her way down to the door. There as she opened the door she saw two people, one man and one woman, wearing beige collared shirts along with dark brown slacks, on their shirts was a badge that said, ‘Canterlot Animal Control.’

“Um, what's this about?” The teen. She wanted to ask how they found her, knew where she was, knew who she was.

“We’ve had a case reported to us of animal abuse and neglect. Do you have a leopard gecko here?” the man said. Sunset stood with no response, having a hard time wrapping her head around the predicament she was in. ‘Abuse? Neglect? Who would say that? Who knew where I lived and knew about, Ray?’ The realization came to her, her breathing becoming panicked and heavy. There was only one person who knew where Sunset was residing and only five that knew about her scaly friend. “What the fuck? There's no way she's that evil. I haven't even been there in four days, why do this?’ The teen could feel something she hadn't felt in a while now, rage.

“Ma'am you're going to need to let us in, seeing as you're homeless and living in an abandoned factory, we can see it's an unfit environment.” The woman of the animal control duo said.

Sunset’s head snapped up at the woman, making eye contact, “NO! You can't do that! Here come in, Look! He has a perfect tank, food, water, everything is clean! He's happy and healthy, it's obvious! You can't take him!” Sunset said with at first anger then slipping into desperation.

The duo walked in and up the loft to Ray's habitat, the woman grabbing the gecko and placing him in a carrier box, the man gathering his supplies, “That might be true but the accusation has already been made, it's mandatory to take an animal that has been filed in for abuse. Whether it's fake or not.” The man spoke.

The once unicorn began to cry, “No! Please! You can't take him!”

The adults began to walk out the door of the factory, “Sorry ma'am, you can make an opposing case in forty-eight hours. Though with your living situation it will be next to impossible to get him back, not sure how you did it in the first place, truthfully.” The woman of the team said before shutting the door closed.

Sunset stood on her loft, dumbfounded, tears silently trailing down her cheeks. She didn't know what to think or do as she stood in her dark, cold factory, officially in total isolation.

~ ~

A day and half had passed making it a gloomy Saturday evening, the sun would soon be setting. A broken unicorn turned human stood at her bathroom sink, head low, deep in thought. Sunset slowly raised her head, seeing her reflection, what looked back was a person with grayed dull peach orange skin with red, and yellow hair, with tired eyes, sunken cheeks and furrowed eyebrows. Her dirty hair is messy with wild stray curls. Looking through her mirror she saw her bathtub was now half full. The teen walked over with a limp as her legs were sore from the many mutilation carving her flesh. Turning the faucet off the girl stood for a moment, looking over to her toilet seat cover, sat her journal. Sunset picked it up and sat on the seat cover with her pen in hand.

“Dear Princess Twilight Sparkle,

Thank you for everything you've done for me. You gave me a path to redemption and a second chance. I loved it while it lasted, I’m sorry as I'm about to throw that chance you gave me away. Thank you for being there for me, you were the only one and there's nothing I can do to show you my gratitude. If you could, please let Princess Celestia know that I'm sorry, for being such a snide little pupil, I was high off jealousy, I know the error of my ways now all too well. Give her my apologies for her having to deal with me. I wish you nothing but good luck as you further your journey in being a princess, I’m sorry I won't be here to watch it. Thank you again for being a friend, you don't have to worry about me anymore, I’ll see you again someday, very, very far away. Good bye.

Your friend,

Sunset Shimmer.”

Finishing her last letter, Sunset brought her journal out to the living room and set it down on the sofa. She took one last look around, with a sigh she made her way back to the bathroom. The teen had it all prepared. She stepped into the half full tub, wearing a magenta sweater too large, that slipped off her right shoulder, and her black boyshorts.She slid into the bath feeling the water rise, she stared at the wall for a moment, then looked at the new large razor blade she slipped from the convenient store earlier that day. Picking it up along with her arms, she took a deep breath, ‘It'll be over quickly, I can handle a little pain, plus I finally get to meet my parents.’ A wobbly smile appeared on the girl's face, she took the razor placing the corner on her left arm first, forcing it down with great strength she made her way down the road of her arm, destroying her flesh and muscle creating a long skinny cavern.

“Ah-!” The teen gave a small shout from the pain, gritting her teeth. She took a few heavy breaths and did the same with her right arm. Pure crimson liquid gushed and flowed out of her arms like a beautiful fountain to be admired in the Canterlot Palace gardens.

Sitting back against the wall the teen took heavy breathes in trying to relax as she felt her life beginning to flow out along with the blood, as the sun set began, the name shared teen would disappear as the sun did as well.