//------------------------------//
// Sunset Society: The Witch from Hell 
// Story: The Many Destinies of Sunset Shimmer 
// by ratedoni 
//------------------------------//

Rainbow Dash tried to live her life, to go on and do what she had done all these years, to continue walking and living as if nothing had happened. She gritted her teeth and put a foot ahead of the other every single morning. She kept telling to herself that everything was right, that everything was peachy. Her nightmares were proof that nothing was alright. No matter how much she tried to run in her day to day, once night came, she could not outrun her own guilt and pain. Almost every night she heard the sound of gunfire, the smell and sight of blood and a pair of eyes that became glassy and lifeless. 

That vision always made Rainbow shudder in fear and pain, knowing that there was nothing she could do but relive the same moment over and over again. This night was not different to the rest of her week and the many times she had awoken. The bags underneath her eyes were proof of how much the last few weeks had tormented her. She was not alone in that regard, but still, the guilt kept consuming her every night. 

Sighing, the girl knew that she would not be able to get back to sleep so easily this time. She knew by now that trying to get back to sleep will be useless since she still had the memory of the gun and shot right at the front of her mind and her dreams will be plagued by it until morning. 

Knowing that it would be futile, Rainbow Dash pulled aside her bed sheets and got up from her sleeping bag. Weather was still bad since they were still in the middle of December, but even with the permanent aura of depression felt around Canterlot, the girls decided to have a sleepover. It wasn’t the normal one that they had all the time, where they used to play games, chat and gossip like crazy; no, this time it wasn’t filled with any teenage-like topics. The five girls spend the night talking with each other, hearing their thoughts and how they were coping with… well, with the loss of Sunset Shimmer. 

Watching her friends sleep, Rainbow decided to leave them be, besides, she was feeling a little parched. Being as silently as possible, Rainbow left Applejack’s room and began to walk in the direction of the kitchen, just taking a little peek inside Applebloom’s room on the way. The three young girls were alright now, but for a long while the three young girls had been completely lost. If it weren’t because the three of them were always together, Rainbow knew that if they were alone or isolated from the others they will crack. She was sure that any of them would have cracked under the pressure and guilt and would have done something really stupid. Rainbow sighed once more, closed the door and kept on walking. 

She had visited Applejack’s house so many time that she was probably capable of getting to the kitchen blindfolded, but thankfully the moon gave enough light to maneuver around. Quickly reaching it Rainbow filled a glass with cold water and simply tried to forget the nightmare, but it was impossible. Deciding that standing in the kitchen at this hour wasn’t helping her, Rainbow walked into the living room. The cozy room was still pleasantly warm even after the logs on the fireplace had been consumed by the flames. Rainbow took a seat on one of the big couches, the one that seemed to have been used by the original Apple family members due to how old and sturdy it was. 

With the silence of the night Rainbow knew that what happened three weeks ago had changed them completely. It had changed the school and not in a good way. Before that they had their ups and downs, but together they were capable of doing great things and help others, including Sunset Shimmer, but then came the great betrayal as Pinkie had said once. 

Rainbow knew that going back to those memories will do nothing but bury her even more in guilt, that’s why she and the others had been seeing a therapist, as if that will help them get Sunset back, but that was impossible. 

She could still see it closing her eyes, the cold and melancholic day. It was just a day after they all turned their back on Sunset just when she needed them the most. How one student, thinking like the rest of them that Sunset was Anon-A-Miss, wanted to get some revenge on the redhead. He went mad and he pulled the trigger, kept on raving about saving the world from a demon. Guy was confined on a loony bin or could be in jail for all that Rainbow cared. 

She could still smell and see the blood all over her hands, but no matter how much she tried to deny it, Sunset’s death was as much her fault as the guy who pulled the trigger… or the girls that had created the account and blamed her friend. She still felt the need to punch the little trio of traitors that were sleeping upstairs, but she could do nothing but pity them. Applebloom, Sweetie and Scootaloo had been so close to spend years in jail due to involuntary manslaughter, but even if they had finally confessed about what they had been doing, the charges had been dropped accounting to their age. Sadly for the trio, the stigma of what they caused will remain like a dark cloud, probably for the rest of their lives, not to mention that the reason why they wanted to incriminate the redhead will never forgive them for what they did. 

Then, a sound completely took Rainbow away from memories and into the present time. There was someone knocking on the door. Now, there were only two types of situations that will make someone knock on another house at this hour. One was bad news, the other was bad news. Looking through the door’s peephole, the color red quickly made Rainbow open the door in a second. Standing in front of her, with her red and yellow hair a mess and with dirt all over her body stood Sunset Shimmer. 

“Rainbow? Well, this is a surprise, can I come in?” the same face and eyes that had been torturing Rainbow for the past three weeks were full of life, she then felt down to the floor after fainting “was it something I said?” 

Several minutes later, with five girls -including a revitalized Rainbow- stood gawking at the redhead, all except a crying Pinkie Pie, who’s hair was completely straight for some bizarre reason, who was holding Sunset as if she was her anchor in the middle of a storm. 

“Forgive us darling, but -and I hope you don’t take this personally- weren’t you dead?” That was definitely the elephant on the room, one that was as heavy as a college student’s debt. 

“I was for a time… I got better,” the easy going smile on Sunset was something neither girl had seen since the Fall Formal and now, with Sunset on the flesh right  in front of them, it was all that they could resist and as one they all embraced the redhead while this one simply grunted looking upwards, as if asking someone up there if this would be a normal occurrence “alright, you girls got your doses of hugs, now give me some space, I’m all covered in dirt,” and like that, most of the girls quickly disentangled from the hug, being the fastest Rarity “blimey, things didn’t change around here.” 

“Are you okay Sunset, Ah mean, you just got back from the dead and you’re talking all… you know?” 

"Try to spend all of your childhood on a Trottingham orphanage and see if the way you speak doesn’t change.” 

“But you never spoke like that before,” Fluttershy asked before Sunset simply shrugged grabbing something from the coffee table. Applejack recognized the package as one of her dad’s cigarettes. 

“Well, spend enough time down there and many things come back to you.” 

“Ah, Sunset, by down there, you mean…” Rainbow didn’t want to finish the sentence, but she at least pointed down at the floor with one of her index fingers. 

“Bloody hell,” Sunset said putting one cigarette on her mouth and her hand ignited in red flames making every single girl jump backwards in fright at the sight “and that is not a figure of speech,” Sunset said igniting the cigarette with the magical fire.