Sunset Shimmer sat silently at her desk. It wasn't that she wanted to be this quiet, necessarily, but she had nought else to do. Well, that wasn't technically the truth. She could start playing her guitar, she could sneak out to add to Flanksy's works, she could ask Aunt Luna to do something - after all, the Vice Principal was almost certainly awake - but instead, she sat at her desk, staring at her laptop screen as the screensaver cycled through images.

Some part of her, the self-destructive part she tried her best to ignore, had been shouting about how she deserved this. Another, gradually quieting part begged her to let it take over, make her powerful again. The rest of her resisted as her laptop screen padded on through the reasons why. Her friends. Her family. Fuck, a little over a year and a half ago, Sunset had had neither. She'd been the High School Bully with the mysterious air - who'd been living in a dirt cheap studio apartment. A little over a year ago, she'd been the bullied as she tried the path to redemption who now seemed to carry the weight of the world on her shoulders - who'd been living on the streets unable to afford a meal as she turned over a new leaf.

And exactly one year ago, in the dead middle of winter break, as a blizzard began rolling into town, she'd been thrown out by the same friends who now were on her laptops screen, accused of something she hadn't committed. She'd been left to try and find somewhere that had even a semblance of warmth, and she'd passed out in a park from exhaustion. She'd heard it several times over since then, she was extremely lucky not to die that night. Even luckier that at some point, her friends had put two and two together to realise she'd been telling the truth, and had gone looking for her. Even luckier still that Celestia - Mom, now, had heard and offered to take her in.

It had been a 'temporary' solution at the time. But the two of them had always had a soft spot for each other - Celestia being the only one who had been able to calm Sunset at her worst both before and after the fateful Fall Formal.

The images continued to cycle across the screen, and Sunset buried her head into her hands with a sigh. She missed them, even if it had only been a week and a bit since school had broken up. But while they normally would have met up by now, everyone seemed to be inexplicably busy. Almost suspiciously so, but Sunset kept that thought locked away in the back of her head.

Almost without thinking, she reached out and grabbed a book from her desk, clicking open a pen as she stared at the images.

Dear Prin Hey, Twi.

Are you available just to talk right now?

Everyone's asleep and I just don't really feel like being alone right now.

Again, not necessarily the truth, but when Aunt Luna locked herself away after dinner, she would never be seen the same side of Midday.

Not that Sunset was a lot better, most of the time.

She didn't even know what the time was in Equestria. What if she woke her up? The Princess of Friendship needed her sleep more than Sunset needed her words of comfort or affirmation.

The voices in her head had a rare moment of agreement, echoing with some kind of certainty that this was a bad idea. That she was a bad person for bothering her oh so busy friend about something that, ultimately, she could deal with herself-

Sure, Sunset.

I'll always be here for you. What's on your mind?

Sunset Shimmer smiled softly, sparing one more glance at her laptop screen, the voices having finally relented. She began to write as the screen shifted away from the image, one that Pinkie Pie had taken on Sunset's birthday when Twilight had visited.

It contained just the two of them, facing out over the hillside looking down on Canterlot City, the first signs of the stars and twilight peeking out over the horizon as the sun set in the distance.

Author's Note

Note Copied from Archive

so I don't really know what I was doing with this chapter. I really just let myself ramble on here, and I think it turned out alright, at any rate.
I feel like I have to put in a warning here. I've been consistent this far, and I want to stick to it, but my mental health has been pretty shit for a while now and a friend called me out on it.
Long story short, I'm going to a therapy session of sorts now? Either this week or next week, and I'm honestly scared shitless and I need to write this down somewhere. But basically, I might miss a day or two, and I might not have any main story updates for you for a little while.
Love you all, GOODNIGHT<3