"If it's any consolation, no one is going to remember you at all by the time we're done," Adagio said menacingly, before adding a bump to Sunset, and Sonata does the same as they walked to the door.
They disappeared into that door, but their words stayed in her head. And at this point, she gave it in. She lost the strength to put a stop to this situation.
Well, what's the point anyway? Her "friends" don't seem to care about her, always bringing up her past without realizing she's listening, making her feel left out. It has been painfully to Sunset that they're just tolerating her presence just because Princess Twilight says so.
All she was to them, an obligation. And what they are to her, a bunch of parole officers. There's no friendship in that.
Why Sunset decided to stick around with them this long was beyond her.
But now, she isn't. She just doesn't know what to do. If she's forever be alone, then so be it.
She should've just leave here. She should've begged Twilight to take her back to Equestria and let Princess Celestia punish her for her crimes.
She should have. But she does nothing.
And with that, she's forever alone and friendless. All because she was so stuck up with her ambition that she disobeyed Princess Celestia.
'And look how that turned out...' Sunset thought miserably.
Well, she wouldn't be alone if someone else had been watching the whole time.
"For once, I began to think you're standing up like a real OG when you confront those sluts. For once I hoped that you're about to make up for all the shit you pulled. Instead you let those bitches made you their bitch. Shimmer, you're a mark, you're always a buster!"
Sunset's face fell when someone she least expected. And she dreaded to hear from her every day she walked into these halls.
"Gilda." Sunset spoke up, couldn't bear to look at the girl who emerged from the shadows. She didn't need to face at her, in fact she could feel Gilda being angry and somewhat disappointed. Plus, she might also be under the Dazzling's spell.
"Yeah, not a surprise to see me here, Shimmer," she snarled. "Hey, why aren't you looking at me?!"
Sunset couldn't answer that. She just shut her eyes, and braced herself for another tirade from Gilda.
Gilda let an annoyed groaned. "Shimmer, do you really think I became one of their mind controlling bitches? Do you even saw me along with the crowd when shit went down?"
That question alone surprised her at the slightest, and when she opened her eyes and looked closely at Gilda, she doesn't seem to be influenced by their spell.
That's a relief. But she's still in her usual hostility towards her. Sunset was still nervous about it.
Sunset fought her nerve and spoke up,"You...are not affected? But how?"
Gilda scoffed as she walked past Sunset to reach for her locker.
"Shimmer I've been gone for the past week, and that ain't your business," she explained bitterly, putting her things in her locker. "But when I came back, shit got really serious now. I was lucky enough those skanks didn't see me, and I'll make sure of that."
"But Lightning Dust has turned like everyone else." She miserably shook her head at the memory of seeing her best friend being affected by the Dazzling's magic in the gym.
Sunset watched with pity as Gilda lowered her head in sadness. Out of everyone here after the Fall Formal, Gilda became her worst offender than the entire school in combine. Everyone was always there, hating on her for her past misdeeds, some were bullying and tormenting her, but Gilda was always, always right there to belittle her every single opportunity she got.
It's a nightmare. But she never thought she get to see this side of her. Sunset doesn't know why but her stupid brain told her to speak with Gilda.
"Gilda," she started, reaching out her hand. "I know things are bad now but-" she didn't get to finish when Gilda slammed her locker door with a loud bang. Sunset visibly flinched at her attitude.
And there it is again, that angry and snide look she's really scared to see again from Gilda.
"Don't fucking touch me, Shimmer!" She growled as her eyes lid up with anger. "It's your fault this happened!!"
Being wronged for all her darker ways was one thing, but being wronged for the current situation she never orchestrated from the start was just low! Sunset couldn't believe her teremity to accuse her for all the problems this school was facing right now.
"My fault?..." she was lost of words until it turned into a scream. "MY FAULT?!"
Gilda's glare grew menacingly. "Yeah, if you never turned up and went demon on all our asses, we wouldn't be deep in this bullshit!"
"Hey I told you I had no idea what that crown did to me when I put it on!" Sunset snapped back. "And I never knew about friendship at that time! I was alone and I'm very sorry!"
"Oh are you sorry for being a bitch to everyone here as you walk around with your fatass like you're some wannabe queen in a tiny castle?" Gilda asked in a severe snidey tone. "Are you sorry for turning into a fucking demon and turned all of us into your mindless bitches and then thinking that none of that shit was your fault in the first place?!"
"Hey! The last part wasn't like that!" Sunset tried to defend herself. "I was-"
"Oh what it wasn't like, huh?!" Gilda shot back. "Like a moment ago you told those sluts you're changed and you're in a much better place? That's bullshit, Shimmer! You knew that! You were a buster when you got your ass handed to you by the Rainbooms that night! And you're still a buster now!"
At this rate, Sunset got fed up for having to be brought down by her severe nagging and painful words. Soon, all that feeling of hopelessness morphed into irritation.
"You know what?! I had enough!" Sunset snapped and went straight to her face. "Ever since that night and I tried to make things up for everyone after the Fall Formal, all you've done was becoming my worst nightmare every day I walked into these corridors! You criticized me to death! And out of everyone here that called me a she-demon in every corner, you're the only one called me a buster! I DON'T EVEN KNOW WHAT MEANS AND I'M SICK OF IT!!"
"Because you deserve it, Shimmer!" Gilda snarled at her. "You fucked up the day you decided to be a bitch! Now you gotta take it to the chin and deal with it!"
She grabbed Sunset by her purple shirt and dragged her close into her fiery eyes.
"Like I said you're nothing but a buster! A THICK ASS BUSTER!!" she roughly shoved Sunset against the lockers.
And because of this, Sunset was now lost to her rage. She hadn't felt this much anger she has bottled up inside ever since she went through that mirror. She looked back at Gilda dead in the eye. Her face went dark red with angry tears in her eyes.
"THAT'S IT! I'LL SHOW YOU WHO THE BUSTER REALLY IS, GILDA!!" She shouted like she never screamed that loud before.
Before Gilda could react, Sunset pounced on her like a cat and pinned her in the ground. With one hand holding Gilda's fist with another one delivering each blow to her torso.
"Hey! Get the fuck off me, Shimmer!" Gilda struggled. "You can't even stop me, bitch!"
"I'M TIRED OF YOU GILDA! I'M TIRED OF HEARING YOUR BULLSHIT EVERY DAY! I'M TIRED OF BEING TORMENTED BY YOU THE MOST! I AM SICK AND TIRED OF YOU MAKING ME MISERABLE THAN EVERYONE ELSE COULD! IT'S BAD ENOUGH THAT I'M BEING TREATED LIKE SHIT WITHOUT YOU BITING ME IN THE NECK!!"
Sunset has completely lost it. She doesn't care about everything right now. She doesn't care how this would make her look like. She doesn't care of how Twilight and the others would react if they see her like this.
All she wanted is to make Gilda stop being a pain in the ass.
But Gilda caught her hand and twist it hard, making Sunset screamed in pain. Before she does something else, she recieved a hard punch in the face, enough that she got off from Gilda and rolled on her back.
The rough delinquent moved fast and caught Sunset in the headlock and gripping her head tight to prevent her from breathing. Sunset struggled to escape from her grip but Gilda's strong arms around her neck made it completely impossible for her to escape.
"What's up now, Shimmer?!" Gilda bragged as Sunset pathetically tried to escape from her. "Who's the buster again, huh?! Who's the buster?!"
"Screw you, Gilda!" Sunset muttered, only for Gilda to tightened her grip, making her nearly suffocate. "FUCK, I CAN'T BREATHE!"
"Submit, Shimmer! Submit!" Gilda demanded.
"Get off me!!" Sunset cried out, struggling to catch her breath.
"Say the magic words, Shimmer!" Gilda growled venomously.
Soon, she realized there's no way to escape from her insanely strong, grip. The only option she had left was to comply.
"Okay, okay!" Sunset finally admitted, sounding more desperate than being defeated in that crater as huge stream of tears fell on her cheeks. This was exactly how she felt in that fateful night.
"I am a buster! A straight up buster! Please Gilda! LET ME GO!!"
That's all she needed to hear.
"That's what I thought..." Gilda muttered. Letting her go and dropped her in the ground.
She stood up and stared down at Sunset who held her throat to ease the pain.
"Let that be a lesson to you before you tried to get physical with a literal OG in Canterlot!" She scolded. "And what you just did clearly suggested that you don't know who the fuck I am than you thought, Shimmer! I'm from The Eagles OG! A hardcore gangster! If you were in deep with other gangs like the Rollin' Moth Beetles, I would've killed you right now!"
Sunset took her time to breath again. Being unable to process on what she just heard. Especially that she read a lot of news coverage on how frequent gang crimes are in Canterlot with both gang hoodlums.
But in the same time, she has other things to worry about right. And fighting isn't helping either. Because the message is clear now, all what Gilda expect from Sunset is to own up her mistakes. So she has to make things right with her now.
"Gilda look," she said, standing up. "I'm very sorry. It's really wrong for me to fight, I became just like everyone else lately," She lowered her head in shame but chin up to face her again. "But we got enough problems right now. The Dazzlings came and used their spell on everyone. They turned them against each other. Twilight, the girls and I were the ones left to stop this. And you're the only survivor from their spell. I know sorry isn't enough but now I wanted to end this. That's enough for me."
After ten seconds of waiting, Gilda's face softened from her icy stare but still retained her stern posture.
"For once, you finally acknowledge your mistake," she said a little satisfaction. "Does this mean you finally have what it takes to end this bullshit?"
Sunset's mood worsened at that question. If it were up to her, she would need help from those girls. In which that may not be possible since she's more of a chore to them than a friend.
"I just don't know, Gilda..." she admitted and then flinched again as if she's waiting for her belittling. Only this time, Gilda's listening. "I don't know if I can stop the Sirens if I don't know for sure if those girls are really friends!"
"What makes you say that?" Gilda asked in confusion. "I thought you're always hanging out with them?"
"Well, why else they want to hang out with me despite what I've done to them for so long?" Sunset asked sharply. "It's simple. I'm nothing more but a favor to Princess Twilight. They only looked after me just because she told them to. But they never treated me like a real friend, they always brought up my past, made me feel unwelcome. And left me out every time we went out to places." She wiped away her tears. "Can't say I blamed them, we were never close to begin with. But what's the point of staying with them if they're not even real friends at all? The only reason I tried to confront the Dazzlings on my own because I can't rely on the people that aren't my friends."
She looked down again. "Sad to say, Aria was right. They're afraid that no one would want to see the band playing together if I joined them."
She sadly looked at Gilda. "And them not being around when you constantly belittled me to death spoke a lot."
Much to her surprise, she felt a hand on her shoulder.
Gilda's stern look was replaced with a sympathetic look.
"Shimmer, let me tell you something," she explained. "I never experienced what you're feeling right now, but Lightning did."
"Really?"
"Yeah," she nodded. "She and I were tight like never before." She smiled at the memories with Lightning, but she frowned when the bad ones came where she and her homies neglected her. "But she's never a full member of The Eagles. She isn't like me and the rest of the homies."
"She's a great friend but she ain't part of the set. But I shouldn't have left her out on all those times she wanted to roll me and my folks. I didn't mean to make her feel that way, but the truth was," she paused. "We intended to, while it's perfectly fine to hang out with her alone, but being seen with the rest of my homies, that would've put her in danger. The Beetles and the cops would think she's associated with us, I can't have that. It's dangerous for her to be seen hanging around with the entire 'hood we were representing!"
She sourly sighed. "But I just made her felt she's nothing more than an outsider to my gang. And not a real homie, and a friend."
Sunset listened with sadness in her eyes. "Gilda..." but she was cut off.
"I ain't finished," she told her. "Last week came. Me and the others got into a drive by accident with the Beetles, they barely survived but they got away. But me and the others are fucked!" She grimace at the horrifying memories of that accident, even though stuff like this tends to happen in that life. "My homies didn't survived the crash." She earned herself a loud gasped from Sunset. "I know, I got a concussion from that shit, I couldn't even move. Even worse, the car was burning with flames from the bullets that those Beetle busters sprayed at us."
But then she faintly smiled. "Just as when I thought it's over for me, well can't say I shouldn't known it would, Lightning Dust turned up and got me the fuck out of there in a heartbeat. Despite being neglected, she still came and saved my ass. What a true friend, I know she forgave me, but I still felt shitty for making her feel unwanted. I still had a lot to make up for, but not until you do something about this."
She continued, "Shimmer, the point is you have to stick by with the Rainbooms, no matter how many times they make you feel uncomfortable. Otherwise, you'll never know when they need you. They ain't true friends to you at least, but you can be one to them."
Sunset still looked doubtful. "But even when I saw them letting little things get to them, I didn't say anything because it wasn't my place."
"Well, you gotta remember what I said," Gilda reminded her. "You need to do this."
Sunset thought deeply for a moment. As much as she could agree with her, there's another question in mind.
"Hey, why do you care so much to help me?" She questioned her.
"Well, at the time, what you were to me was a small time bully who thought she ruled the school," she explained. "Besides, you're nothing compared to the rival gangs I dealt with at an early age. But of course I'm very pissed off for how much shit you gave to everyone here."
Sunset raised an eyebrow. "Small time bully, huh?"
"Damn straight. Besides, I knew some cold blooded cats who weren't so high and mighty as you. And the reason why I never blast you when I had the chance because mom kept nagging me to not fucking around in school. When you got taken down in the Fall Formal, the way you cried your eyes made you a buster in my eyes. Especially after the dance, I heard from Rainbow that you ran out crying to the parking lot."
"So, me crying and saying sorry, and running away was enough to make me seem that way to you?" Sunset asked.
Gilda just shrugged. "Yeah, and sometime after that, I've seen that you tried to make up for your fuck ups, whether you're truly sorry or not, I thought to myself "If she wanted to change, then she needs the OG motivation." And all those times I made myself your worse fucking nightmare, I was doing what's necessary to push you to do better!"
"Like biting me off in the neck every single time?" Sunset snidely remarked.
"It's called criticism, Shimmer," she told her. "It's how we do to keep our soldiers alive. Real OGs can take criticisms, it lets their homies know how much they fucked up and the push they needed to fix it."
"Well why else do I need that for?"
"Because that's what make you improved for the better!" Gilda urged. "You fucked up the day you were a bitch to all of us here, you had all the teachers wrapped around your finger, no one had the balls to get in your way because you got the fucking means to bend the rules of this school! It's your fault everyone was so miserable for the last three years! The fact that you're willing to make up for everything you've done shows that you were so fucked up by that giant rainbow laser! It's your responsibility, you fix it!"
"Well excuse me for not seeing your true intentions to help me because of your "way with life," Sunset sarcastically replied.
Gilda nervously laughed. "My bad, I should've take into account that not all of you would know what I do to help others. But remember this, everyone here calling you a She-Demon was because they all hated you, as for the Rainbooms, they only said it because they still ain't forget about the shit you pulled, and you said they kept bringing up your fuck ups, right?"
Sunset sourly nodded. "That's right."
"Exactly, but I'm the one who called you a buster was because it describes a poor dude being a coward and showing weakness and they ain't worthy of respect, and the way you cried after the dance and everyone being happy like maniacs that you're down sums it all up. Usually, this term was addressed to a guy but in your case, despite being a chick, I made an exception. And besides, I don't like the shit you pulled but it ain't enough for me to even call you a She-Demon, and I've been tough on you just to make you better!"
Sunset listened very attentively, now everything made sense to her. And little by little, she slowly feel every part of her new self. The new her. The new Sunset Shimmer that's about to bring in the best of the new her.
"Do you understand everything I told you, Shimmer?" She asked.
And for once, she smiled in return. "Yes. Every word."
Gilda was super satisfied with the answer. "Good, now I gotta get the hell out of here before they see me. I certainly can't help with all that magic shit, but I've done enough to help you. You gotta earn your results. Until then, I'll be watching from the sidelines, somewhere around in this block where those three skanks won't think to look for. And then I'll see what you're made of when the time comes."
"You got it, and Gilda?"
"Yeah?"
"Thanks for everything."
"Don't sweat it. And remember, a real homie is a true friend."
Sunset chuckled. "Sounds cool. I'll see you after all this settled down."
"You too. And you better head back to the Rainbooms, they're probably yapping about their next move to reach the finals." And with that, she walked away. "Later homie."
Author's Note
I really like making Gilda a gangbanger judging by the way she talks and behaves around Sunset because it's fun, and why not?
This part is important since it will connect with my next story. I got say thanks to one of my other friends in fanfic writing who goes by the name of waters22 for his permission to use some of his writing scenes as references. If you ever see this, thanks a lot, man!
And stay tuned to learn more about these two gangs, Rollin' Moth Beetles and The Eagles. This fic stated that Gilda was a high ranking Eagle member. But you'll see more of these gangs soon.
Anyway, if you enjoyed this story, good for you! I genuinely had fun writing this fic.
Anyway, time for me to get going. Peace out, homies!
