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The sound of that dreaded alarm clock rang throughout Rainbow Dash’s bedroom. Monday already. This had to be the fastest weekend ever. Dash felt like she barely had time to rest since the Fall Formal. Regardless, she groggily got up from her bed, brushed her teeth, and got dressed. She threw on a magenta jacket and sweatpants. After tying her hair in a ponytail, she quietly made her way into the kitchen and grabbed a water bottle, careful not to wake her parents up. It was still super early. 5:00AM to be exact. She quietly made her way out of the door and into the dark and chilly Autumn morning.

An early morning jog has become part of Rainbow Dash’s everyday routine. It’s a great way to stay in top top shape and maintain her status as Canterlot High’s sports prodigy. She usually tried to persuade one of her friends, Pinkie being the more eager one, to tag along with her, but not today. She felt like everyone deserved a much needed relaxing weekend. Especially after…

She stopped under a tree to catch her breath. Sunset Shimmer. The biggest menace of Canterlot High School. Somehow Princess Twilight saw potential in her. Either that or she really didn’t want Sunset going back to Equestria. Now it’s up to her and her friends to take care of her. Dash loathed the idea, but she had no choice. They owed it to Twilight. After all, she did save-

“BOO!!!”

Rainbow Dash felt a light jab to her ribs. Her weak spot. She let out a frightened yelp as she nearly jumped out of her trainers. She turned around throwing her fists up ready to fight. There she saw three individuals wearing weird masks, laughing hysterically. One of them was wearing a funny looking skull mask, which almost looked like it had a smile. Another was wearing a strangely scary old lady mask with long strands of white hair falling over a wrinkly face. The third had on a creepy looking white mask with dark brown hair. This one looked the creepiest. The lack of emotion was really uncanny.

Rainbow Dash immediately recognized the voices behind the masks. The fear she felt earlier had now gone away, and anger took its place. “Oh you fucking assoles! The fuck’s the matter with you guys?!”

The three people removed their masks and revealed themselves to be none other than Rover, Fido, and Spot, or as they like to call themselves, The Diamond Dawgs. It’s no secret that everyone in the school thought that their “gang” name was just as dumb as them.

“What’s wrong Dashie?” Findo said, holding his stomach as he let out a few more chuckles. “I thought ya loved pranks!”

“Yeah Dashie!” Spot added. “You love pranks. Especially harmless Halloween pranks!”

Rainbow Dash gritted her teeth. “First of all, only some people can call me Dashie. Second, it’s still September you dumbasses!”

Rover chuckled. “Silly Rainbow. It’s never too early to start celebrating Halloween!”

The three boys all put their masks back on and ran off down the street laughing and yelling “HAPPY HALLOWEEN!”

Dash let out a frustrated sigh. Idiots, she thought. She shook her head in disappointment and then went back to jogging.

*****

Sunset Shimmer let out a frustrated sigh as she approached Canterlot High School. She already wasn’t a big fan of Mondays in general, but she’s especially been dreading this day in particular. She’d now have to go and face everyone. Everyone that she’s wronged. Now that she had lost her place atop the school. The worst part of this is, she’s now going to have to make friends. She’d be lucky to even talk to people who aren’t teachers, let alone befriend them.

Sunset looked up to see that she had already arrived at school. She noticed immediately the very poorly rebuilt school entrance with caution tape and orange construction cones scattered about. Next to it, she noticed a sign that read “Please go around”. If she had to guess, the school must’ve wanted it fixed before Monday. Typical, she thought.

She made her way through the cones and under the tape. She can’t be bothered to go all the way around just to enter the school. Immediately upon entering she was met by the angry looks of the students around her. The once fearful looks they once gave her are now nowhere to be seen, and in their place was hatred. Sunset wasn’t surprised though. She did make their lives a living hell after all.

She continued to walk down the hallways trying her best to ignore the looks. That’s all they were though. Hateful looks, and Sunset knew it. Almost everyone had witnessed her that night. All that power. All that-

Kill.

A quick jolt of pain shot through Sunset’s head which made her stop in her tracks and wince in pain. It was just like what happened at the Fall Formal. A sharp pain in her head, and an unsettling urge to-

“Hey there, Sunnyset!”

Sunset looked up to none other than Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Rarity, Applejack, and Pinkie Pie. All of them save for Pinkie and Fluttershy seeming very distrusting. Pinkie, as usual, seemed to always have that annoyingly huge smile on her face. Out of all of them, she was the most difficult to bully due to her never ending happiness. So Sunset just chose to ignore Pinkie all together.

Fluttershy had a look of concern on her face. She was the easiest to bully due to her quiet and timid nature. One of the others would almost always have to step up and save her. Sunset wonders if these girls will ever really forgive her. Only one way to find out.

Sunset walked towards the girls, groaning as she rubbed the side of her head. “Hey,” she managed to say.

“You alright?” Rainbow Dash asked, almost sounding genuine.

“Yeah, I’m fine. Just a mild headache I guess.”

“You don’t have to go to the nurse’s office do you, darling?” Rarity asked.

“Ah might have some medicine in my backpack ah could-”

“No really!” Sunset interrupted. “I’m fine, don’t worry about it.”

There was a long, awkward silence before Pinkie Pie spoke up and said, “So! How was your weekend, everyone? Anything fun or exciting happen? Well, besides almost dying to an evil flying demon. No offense, Sunny.”

Sunset sighed. She wasn’t sure how she felt about this new stupid nickname. “None taken. And besides, well, that, my weekend was alright.”

“Ah just spent my weekend picking and selling apples. Nothin’ different really.” Applejack replied.

“I helped out at the animal shelter yesterday.” Fluttershy said quietly. It was almost hard to hear her.

“Nothing too different for me as well.” Rarity chimed in. “Working at the Carousel Boutique as usual.”

Just then, they heard the voice of Principal Celestia over the intercom. Everyone in the hallways stopped talking and listened.

“Good morning students! Hope you all had a great weekend. Glad everyone is okay after the… fiasco on Friday. Anyways, just a reminder to those who want to plan out next month’s Halloween dance to please come see me, Vice Principal Luna, or Pinkie Pie to discuss food, decorations, and other party essentials! That’s all the announcements for today. Have a great Monday everyone!”

Everyone began talking once again and the hallways were now once again filled with the voices of students. Pinkie Pie let out a short squeal that almost sounded like a squeaky toy. “I can’t wait to start planning this year’s spooky spooktacular Halloween dance!” She turned to her friends and Sunset. “You guys will help me out with this, right? Last year everyone was all moody and sad to help out with anything fun.”

Sunset didn’t have to look around to know that the girls were now staring at her. She only let out a small sigh. “Fine. I can help out, I guess.”

“Same here, darling!”

“Count me in too, Pinkie Pie!”

“Y-Yes.”

Rainbow Dash groaned. “I don’t know. I’m already not feeling so festive today. As I was out for my early morning jog, those asshole Diamond Dawgs came out of nowhere and scared the shit out of me wearing stupid looking masks.”

“Already?” Fluttershy asked. “September isn’t even over yet.”

“That’s the Diamond Dawgs for ya! Always so festive!” Pinkie said.

Sunset finally spoke up. “I still think Halloween is such a stupid name.”

Everyone looked at her with confusion. “What do you mean?” Rainbow asked.

“Back in Equestria, we had something very similar called Nightmare Night. It’s basically the same thing as this Halloween holiday of yours. Foals- or kids, dressed up in costumes and go from house to house getting candy. Only instead of celebrating to ward off evil spirits or whatever, we did it as an offering for Nightmare Moon.”

“Who’s Nightmare Moon?” Fluttershy asked.

“Basically an evil version of Princess Luna.” Sunset replied.

“Wait wait wait.” Dash said. “Luna as in Vice Principal Luna? You mean to tell me she and probably Celestia are princesses in your world?”

“And what do you mean ‘evil version’ of her? Rarity asked.

“It’s a pretty long story. I’ll tell you guys about it later.” Suddenly the school bell rang, indicating that classes were about to begin.

“Time for class.” Applejack stated. She looked at Sunset. “Tell us that story durin’ lunchtime. Ah sure would love to hear more about it.”

“Same here, Sunny!” Pinkie exclaimed.

The rest of the girls nodded in agreement.

Sunset chuckled. “Fine then. I’ll tell you guys about it during lunch. See you later!” She turned around and began walking to class. Looks like forgiveness isn’t so impossible afterall.

*****

“You sure you don’t want to come with us, Darling?” Rarity asked Sunset. They had gathered at the statue after the final bell of the day rang.

“Yeah Sunny!” Pinkie exclaimed. “It’ll be fun! Who could say no to an after school cupcake at the Sweet Shoppe?”

Sunset chuckled. “I could,unfortunately. I’m scheduled to work all week to make up for not showing up these last few days, since I kind of thought I was going to go back and rule Equestria and all that.”

“I still can’t believe you managed to get a part time job as a mechanic at such a young age.” Rainbow Dash commented. “How’d someone like you end up learning about cars and shit in such little time?”

“Because I learned.” Sunset replied, rolling her eyes. “I may have been an evil terrible no good person, but I was still top of my classes every time. I was taught by an all mighty princess afterall.”

“Yeah, the same princess that you betra- ow!” Dash felt a strong jab to her left arm. She turned to see Applejack, smiling sheepishly.

“Don’t you worry about it, Sugarcube.” She said, waving her hand. “There will always be more time for us to hang out. Ah’m sure of it.”

Fluttershy only nodded in agreement as she gave a small smile to Sunset.

“Thanks guys. I’ll see you tomorrow then. Bye!” Sunset turned and began walking over to her job.

Most of the girls waved at her as she departed. Rarity stopped waving and turned to Rainbow Dash. “So? What do you think, Darling?” She asked.

Dash turned to her with a confused look on her face. “What?”

“What do you think about Sunset? Do you think she can fully redeem herself?”

Dash shrugged. “Honestly, I don’t really know. After all the shit she’s done to us and the school? It’ll take a good while to fully forgive her.” She and the rest of the girls then began walking to Sweet Shoppe.

“However,” she continued as she walked. “I do appreciate her willingness to try. I thought for sure she’d tell us to go to Hell or something.”

“I agree.” Fluttershy replied. “I think she has the potential to be a great person.”

Rainbow Dash was surprised to hear that coming from Fluttershy. Being the one that got bullied the most, she thought for sure she’d have no hope for her. How wrong she was. That’s Fluttershy for you. Kind hearted, even to those who aren’t. She smiled at her friend, who then blushed and looked away from her, causing the athlete to giggle.

“Well I for one fully forgive her!” Pinkie squealed.

“Of course you would Pinkie. She hardly bothered you at all.” Rarity added.

Pinkie just shrugged. “I stand by what I said! Now let's go eat some cupcakes! The girls laughed and continued to walk as they watched Pinkie bouncing ahead of them.

*****

“Well well well. Look who decided to show up to work.”

“Yeah yeah yeah. Rub it in now, Mr. Will” Sunset sneered.

“How many times has Iron Will told you, Sunset? Refer to Iron Will as Iron Will!”

“You really gotta stop talking like that. You’re reminding me of that bitch Trixie.”

Iron Will used a clean towel to wipe some oil from his hands. The big, muscular man of 45 years looked at Sunset with a confused look. “Who now?”

Sunset rolled her eyes. “Nevermind.” She paused for a moment. “So,does this mean I’m not fired?”

Iron Will looked at her and smiled. “Don’t worry about it, Shimmer! Just glad to see you didn’t quit out on us.”

Sunset looked down at her feet. After learning as much as she could about cars, she began looking for places to work. Though most of the places she went to either told her to get lost or come back when she’s older. All except for Iron Will. He seemed to take her in with open arms and loved how good she was with cars. He somehow even managed to put up with her nasty attitude and somewhat lack of attendance. She always wondered why. Why put up with her?

“Listen, Mr- I mean, Iron Will. I-”

Iron Will put a hand up, cutting her off. “Don’t worry about it, Shimmer. I’m sure something important came up at home or school. Besides, I ain’t letting you go that easy. You’re too good at this job to get fired.” He chuckled.

He and Sunset exchanged a smile before tossing her a ratchet wrench. “Now go get changed and help me with this here oil change! Iron Will ain’t payin’ you to stand around all day!”

“Yes, sir!” Sunset gleefully replied as she hurried to the locker room. Once there, she opens up her locker and pulls out the still dirty and stained coveralls. The once clean blue coveralls were now covered in oil stains, causing them to look more darker navy blue. She really should wash these at some point, but really what's the point in washing something that’ll just get dirty again.

She quickly removed her jacket and boots and slipped into the coveralls. Luckily they were just big enough to where she didn’t have to take off her shirt and skirt. Which was a good thing for her since there weren't really any separate locker rooms for women, since she’s really the only female mechanic there. After she zipped up and put on her black steel toe boots, she tossed her regular boots, her jacket, and her backpack into her locker and shut the door.

She rushed back out to where Iron Will was. He was in the middle of lifting a car using the column lift. He turned towards Sunset and said, “Ah, Shimmer. Hand Iron Will a filter wrench, would ya?”

“Sure thing, boss.” Sunset replied and she began looking for a filter wrench. She looked in one of the tool boxes and found a black and green colored jaw style filter wrench. She grabbed them and began walking back to Iron Will. “There you go, bo-”

Kill.

That familiar and unsettling jolt of pain returned to Sunset. She winced in pain as her head began to hurt again. Why? Why now? Why again?

“Shimmer? You okay there?” Iron Will sounded a bit concerned.

“Y-Yeah. Just a bit of a headache. I’ll be-”

As she turned to face Iron Will, another flash hit her. Only this time, it came with something disturbing. For just a short second, she saw a sort of vision of Iron Will on the floor, dead in a puddle of blood with screwdrivers sticking out of his body and the hook end of the filter wrench lodged into his eye socket.

“Oh fuck!” Sunset yelled as she tossed the wrench to the side.

“What? What is it?” Iron Will yelped. “What’s wrong? Was there a spider on it!? Is it dead?”

Sunset couldn’t answer him. She was panting now, her hand over her heart. What in the fuck was that? Was that some sort of vision of the future or something? A warning? Or maybe… something she wanted to do?

“No no no,” she said to herself. “That can’t be. I would never. Right?”

*****

“You sure you’re okay, Shimmer? You really gave Iron Will a fright back there.”

It was now 8PM. Closing time. Sunset was luckily able to make it through the rest of her shift without any more… dark thoughts. Still despite that, her head was still kind of hurting. She rubbed her temples and said, “Yeah. Yes. I don’t really know what happened. I’ve been having these weird jolts of pain lately, only this time, I started seeing visions of… doesn’t matter. Once I get home, I’ll take some medicine and go to sleep early. Promise?”

“Hmm.” Iron Will began rubbing his chin. Clearly something was bothering Sunset. Something she clearly doesn’t want to share with him. “Alright, Shimmer. You head on home now. Get plenty of rest. And if you need anything, you could always talk to Iron Will!”

Sunset managed to give a small smile. “Thank you.”

With that, she exited the building and began waking home. It was now dark and a bit chilly out. Chillier than usual. She placed her hands in her jacket pockets and continued to walk. That vision of Iron Will dead was still fresh on her mind. She’s still shaken up. “Come on Sunset. Get it together.” She said to herself. “This isn’t permanent. Just a little side effect from the crown’s dark magic. No need to pa-”

Meow!

She looked down to see a stray black cat walking towards her. It stopped and began purring and rubbing against her legs. She knelt down and began to pet it. “Hey there little guy. What are you doing out here all by yourself?”

She continued to pet the cat and rub its chin and belly. This was definitely needed right now. Something to take her mind off of the dark thoughts. She looked at the cat. Such a tiny creature. So warm and fluffy. So small. So… fragile. So… vulnerable. So… alive. Without thinking, she slowly stopped rubbing its chin and began to wrap her hand around its neck. The cat, sensing something was off, meowed and jumped away from Sunset before she fully grasped its neck. This sudden move was enough to jolt her back to reality. Was she… was she about to harm the cat?

“Fuck.” She said before getting up and running home. She ran as fast as she could until in no time she arrived at her house. She unlocked the door and ran in, slamming the door shut and locking it immediately. Her heart was pounding. Beating fast. Her knees were now shaking.

“What the fuck is happening to me?”

Author's Note

Yes, i spelled it as Dawgs instead of dogs. Idk, i just felt like it'd be something the human versions of these idiots would do lol