A few streams of Saturday morning sunlight trickled into an otherwise dimly lit room. It's only inhabitant curled up like a cat wrapped in a cocoon of blankets and warmth. With a soft groan, a rats nest of red and gold hair emerged from the heart of the blanket fortress. Groggy green eyes scanned their surroundings as Sunset tried to make sense of her current situation.
Where am I? How'd I get here?
As her mind started to wakeup, her memories of last night rushed to the front of her mind. Her heart sank like a lead weight. In a futile attempt to ward off her internal chill, she pulled the blankets in on herself. After all of the pain, all of the hate, it had finally became too much. It finally happened. She tried to kill herself. Even though it was all her own choice, she hated herself for it. She hated that she was so weak that she let her despair rule her. That she let herself break so easily with a few cruel words from her now former friends. But in the darkest corners of her shattered heart, she felt something else; disappointment. She was disappointed that her attempt was stopped, that she was denied the right to end her pain. That she had to endure both her old wounds, and the rage of attempting to bring it to an end the way she did.
Why couldn't I die?
But then, something else came to mind. A kind embrace, a warm smile, and a pair of caring mismatched golden eyes. As she thought of those eyes, the void surrounding her started to dissipate, quickly replaced by the warmth of the comfy bed beneath her and thick comforter wrapped around her. But one thing shattered the abyssal prison around her heart, four little words that held the weight of the world to her; You are not Anon-A-Miss.
Thank you Derpy, she thought, a soft smile gracing her lips, and a single happy tear trailing down her cheek.
A knock on the guestroom's door snapped her out of her musings.
"Sunset? Are you up?"
Hastily, Sunset wiped away the tear before saying, "Y-Yeah, I'm up Derpy."
"Can I come it?"
"Sure."
The door slowly opened, revealing a smiling while slightly cautious-looking Derpy. In her hands was a small tray holding a large muffin, stick of butter, and a glass of Orange juice. Sunset eyed the tray with more then a little interest as her savior approached. Derpy noticed, and a sheepish smile graced her lips.
"I made a few muffins this morning and I thought you'd like one."
It was as transparent a lie as they came and Sunset knew it. The warmth and heavenly aroma that the confection gave off was evidence enough of that, but for that moment, Sunset didn't care. The last time she had a decent breakfast was the morning after Rarity's sleepover, and this single muffin made that seem like the stale box of doughnuts she salvaged out of Joe's back ally dumpster. Of course, her stomach wasn't afraid to voice its opinion on the matter as well.
"T-Thanks Derpy," Sunset blushed, silently cursing her stomach.
Still smiling, Derpy placed the tray on a cabinet by the bed and took a seat next to Sunset.
"No prob bob. How're ya feeling?"
Sunset, thought over her condition, hand all the while closing in on her freshly baked prize. It wasn't until she closed her fingers around the muffin's cup that she finally found a word that best described her feelings.
"Scrambled."
Derpy tilted her head in confusion.
"I mean," she continued. "On one hand, I'm glad I'm alive, but on the other........"
Having heard enough, Derpy gently grasped Sunset's free hand with both of her own, momentarily taking the orange skinned girl's attention away from her breakfast and towards the misaligned golden orbs looking at her.
"Sorry..." she sighed, casting her gaze to the ground.
"Hey," Derpy said, a slight edge to her tone as she let go of Sunset's hand to guide the depressed girl's face back towards hers. "Listen to me. None of this is your fault. You haven't done anything wrong."
"But-"
"No 'Buts' except for the one that really needs to get kicked."
Again, Sunset found herself surprised by her companion's display of strength. The shift from happy airhead to stern commander was honestly jarring to her, but at the same time, a trait that she found rather endearing. It made her wonder why she never met this part of her back in her dark days.
"Now," Derpy sighed, returning to her more cheerful persona. "Eat up before it gets cold."
With little argument, Sunset returned her attention to the momentarily forgotten treat in her grasp and took a bite. What fallowed was the biggest explosion of pure deliciousness and joy to ever grace the troubled teen's tastebuds. It was light as a feather and warm as the sun with a gloriously lemony sweet-sour zest. Tears of pure bliss trailed down Sunset's face as she rode out her moment of euphoria from just the first bite of her muffin.
"Sunset? Are you okay?" Derpy asked, concerned for her crying neighbor.
"Y-Yeah, I'm fine," Sunset said wiping her happy tears away with her free hand. "Thanks Derpy."
At that moment, Sunset smiled, and for the grey girl, it was the most beautiful thing she had seen in a long time. No sooner had the moment come did it get spoiled by the thought that someone had tried to destroy that very same smile. Such an unforgivable crime could never go unpunished, and in time, she would personally make sure such a thing wouldn't happen. But that could be sorted out later. At the moment, helping Sunset get through this tough patch in her life was more important.
"Hey, Derpy," Sunset asked, snapping the silently seething teen out of her thoughts. "Can I ask you something?"
"Shoot," she smiled
"Why were you......on the bridge last night? How did you know I was going to jump?"
For a moment, Derpy stared at Sunset in stunned silence, eyes wide. She knew Sunset was going to ask at some point, but not this soon. She quickly noticed Sunset's demeanor tense and gave her a gentle smile.
"Well," she sighed, laying on the bed, a far-off look in her eyes. "Would you believe it was dumb luck?"
"Huh?" she asked, tilting her head.
With a sad chuckle, Derpy rested her hands under her head and began the story of what led the gray teen to become her hero.
***
Sugarcube Café was normally a bustling hub of activity. Regardless of whether it was gossip or a bunch of friends blowing off steam from a long day of classes, the place was always alive. That was, until Anon-A-Miss came along. In just a few days the blogger had turned the happily united student body of Canterlot High into a grim cesspool of distrust and paranoia. As it stood, there appeared to be only three types of students; the prideful type that were hungry for payback, the spited that wanted to takedown the ones they thought had betrayed their trust, and the thick-skinned few who didn't care much about the school's social dynamic and weren't afraid to tell people where to stick it when given the chance. Unfortunately, when the first two types made up almost ninety-percent of the student body, it was only natural that not a lot of spirits where high.
As a result only three tables were currently occupied. One held five very depressed teens quietly sipping their cocoa, another sat three elementary schoolers tinkering on their phones, and the last catered to a lone gray girl who was also fiddling with her device, only with much less enthusiasm than the trio.
How could all of this happen, Derpy thought listlessly as she scrolled through her Mystable page. Everything looked like it was getting better after the Battle of the Bands. Why would somebody do all this? Maybe its time for me to come out of retirement.
As she thought this, she took a small bite of her Cheesecake Muffin and grimaced. While she could admit that the café's baked goods were of high quality for a local shop, the muffins always disappointed her. They just never came out right for some reason.
Maybe they don't use the right flour, she mused, bored expression plastered across her face as she glanced at her barely touched pastry.
The bell above the Café's door chimed, briefly snapping her out of her dull thoughts as she glanced at the newcomer. What she saw shocked her. It was Sunset, only, she didn't quite look like her usual self. The strong and bright aura she normally radiated was nothing more than a pale imitation of its original glory. In its stead was a dim shade of desperation, the same fading light in her bloodshot green eyes as she turned towards the table of five not far from the front of the door. Derpy watched as she made her way towards the table, pretending to look at her phone to make it a little less obvious.
"Guys, please listen to me," Sunset begged as she pulled a thick book out from the confines of her heavy winter coat. "I've been talking with Princess Twilight and I think-"
"What the hell do you think you're doing here?" Rainbow snapped as she stood, eyes attempting to glare a hole through the girl.
Sunset flinched, what little courage she had when she stepped into the Café wavered slightly by her former friend's cold stare.
"What?"
"Yah heard her," Applejack growled, also rising from her seat. "What the hell do yah think yah'll r' doin' here?"
"I-I-"
"Give it a rest traitor," Rainbow growled, taking a step towards the now trembling Sunset. "We know its you're fault Canterlot High's the way it is!"
"B-But-"
"Shut it, Anon-A-Miss!"
With just one sentence, all of the color in Sunset's face drained away, and with it, what little fire her demeanor held.
"So that's it then," she said, voice trembling. "No matter what I say, none of you are going to listen."
Derpy watched in horror as Sunset's friends either refused to look her in the eye or answer in the contrary. Then, in a hallow tone that sent a chill down the gray teen's spine she said one word. "Fine."
With that, she dropped the book and with dead eyes and slumped shoulders, stepped back out into the unforgiving cold of Canterlot City. For a moment, Derpy just sat there in stunned silence, her mind not quite able to process what she just saw. But one thing did register with absolute clarity, the look of absolute defeat in Sunset's eyes, and the many possibilities that could lead to. That was enough to pull Derpy out of her trance. As she shot to her feet, only one thought screamed through her head.
Please let me be wrong!
With that, she quickly gathered her things and fallowed Sunset into the cold streets, but a quick glance around reveled no such girl. Panicked, Derpy bolted to her car, hoping that she was close enough that if she cruised the neighborhood she would find her. As luck would have it, not even a foot away from her car, she saw Sunset start to cross the street. Not willing to waste her good luck, Derpy jumped into her car and started it up.
Okay Derpy, what's the plan? she thought as she began tailing the abandoned teen. Well, besides the obvious.
That last thought made her cringe.
Relax, Derpy. You don't even know if this is even gonna go that route. For now, just focus on keeping her in your sights. For all you know, she's just going on a night time stroll to clear her head.
She knew this was nothing more than wishful thinking on her part, but unless the fates said otherwise, she was more then willing to accept it. As it was, they were being unusually kind to her tonight, gracing her with thin evening traffic and having Sunset's zombie-like stroll be in the same direction as her lane. Eventually the traffic completely disappeared leaving nothing but dark streets and mostly abandoned buildings. A bad feeling settled into the pit of Derpy's gut as she divided her focus between her quarry and the road.
Is this the kind of neighborhood Sunset grew-up in? No wonder she was so aggressive back then.
A twinge of pity filled Derpy's heart as she stared at Sunset's back.
Oh, Sunset.......
A tear started to form at the corner of her eye, but she quickly wiped it away. She could cry about Sunset's situation later, right now she needed a shoulder to cry on, not someone's pity. As she pulled her hand away from her face, she was just able to see Sunset walk into a nearby parking lot before she stepped out of range of her car's headlights.
"Shit!" Derpy whispered as she quickly tried to pull into the parking lot, but by the time she got her vehicle into position, Sunset was already gone.
"Shit, shit, SHIT!" Derpy muttered as she parked her car and looked around. "Where'd she go!?"
As she frantically looked around for any sign of the missing girl, various horror stories started playing through her mind each more horrible than the last. Her panic was so great that she almost didn't notice the giant bridge towering over the lake next to her. As her eyes took in the massive structure before her the dread she felt from before doubled.
She wouldn't.
No sooner had that thought crossed her mind did she notice someone standing on the bridge's main platform. A person with red and yellow hair. Every drop of blood in Derpy's body turned to ice as she took in the situation. Not wanting to waste a nanosecond, Derpy bolted towards the stairs leading towards the bridge's main platforms. Her head and heart raced as she ascended the stares, all the while she hoped that this was all just some kind of sick joke. That this was just a bad dream and she wasn't going to watch someone kill them self. Her hopes were dashed as she heard a familiar voice scream to the heavens that she was not the one who tore the school apart from the inside out. A second later, Derpy was standing on the bridge's main platform and in front of her stood Sunset, jacket abandoned and standing on the guardrail. Then, she watched as Sunset gently jumped.
"SUNSET NO!!!"
That was all Derpy had time to say as she ran to the guardrail.
***
"And you know the rest," Derpy sighed, bringing herself into a sitting position.
Sunset just stared at Derpy as she tried to process what she was told. How was she supposed to take the fact that not only had Derpy saved her, but Sunset's last act of rebellion allowed the grey teen to find her in time to do it. It was almost as if the fates had arranged it so that her death could be prevented by any means necessary. And that Derpy had to be the one to do it.
"Sunset?"
Sunset snapped out of her trance.
"Uh, yeah Derpy?"
"Were have you been living this whole time?"
"I thought I told you," she grimaced, cold glare cast towards the ground. "Why?"
"Well," Derpy cringed. "If you're going to be staying here, I think you're going to want at least one change of clothes. Maybe?"
Perplexed, Sunset shifted her attention back towards her companion.
"You mean, I can stay?"
"Yes," Derpy sighed. "Although, I'm going to have to tell my folks what happened last night. You don't have any problems with that, right?"
She shrugged.
"Honestly, you could tell them my bra size if it means having a warm place to sleep for a little while."
"I doubt it will come to that," she chuckled, face turning red. "Right mom!?"
A loud bump accompanied by several muffled curses could be heard from beyond the bedroom door. A moment later, it opened to reveal its sheepish eaves-dropper. It was a cream colored woman in her late twenties-early thirties with bright red and pink two-toned hair dressed in a lime-green bathrobe.
"Oh hey sweetie," she chuckled. "Fancy meeting you here."
"Mom, I live here," Derpy deadpanned.
"Why yes. Yes you do."
Derpy sighed mortified by her mother's antics.
"Just because you play one on TV doesn't mean you're a super spy in real life mom."
Derpy's mother let out a dry laugh.
"Right, right. So Dear, are you going to introduce me to our new house guest or will I have to measure her first."
Both girl's faces turned scarlet.
"W-Well," Derpy coughed, desperate to get out of this situation before someone's head caught on fire. "Mom, this is Sunset Shimmer. Sunset, this is my mom Rose Luck."
"You can just call me Rose," Rose said, stepping forward with her hand out.
For a moment, Sunset stared at the offered hand, almost at a loss of how she was supposed to react to the offer of kindness before a light seemed to just as quickly ignite in her head before she raised her own hand.
"It's nice to meet you Rose," Sunset smiled, excepting the handshake.
"Likewise," she smiled briefly before taking a seat next to Sunset opposite of her daughter.
"How did you sleep?"
"Good," Sunset stiffly replied. "Like a baby."
Rose Luck nodded, a knowing look in her eyes.
Sunset sighed, gaze shifted once again to the ground and eyes hidden by the shadow of her bangs.
"How much did you hear?"
"Enough," she sighed, posture becoming more somber. "To know that you need help. How much of it I still need to know."
Sunset nodded, knowing well enough that the woman sitting next to her knew more then she was letting on.
"Will you tell me Sunset? Would you like my daughter and I to help you?"
The room was eerily quiet as Derpy and Rose Luck waited for Sunset's answer. In some ways it reminded Derpy of the silence she experienced at Sugarcube Corner, a memory that sent a slight tremble down her spine. But before she could further explore that unpleasant memory, Sunset gave her answer.
She nodded.
Derpy let out a relieved breath she didn't even know she was holding, while her mother gave Sunset a gentle smile. Now freed from the previous sense of tension, Derpy noticed the now abandoned food tray she brought in earlier. Smiling, she stood up and took the tray.
"I'll take this to the kitchen so you guys can talk."
"Okay dear," Rose smiled, gently rubbing Sunsets back.
As she left the room, she ran the events of last night back through her head. How toxic the atmosphere of Canterlot High had become. All because some jerk with a chip on his shoulder decided to air everybody's dirty laundry. It just didn't make any sense. Why go to all the trouble? What was their motive for doing all this? Derpy knew most people didn't really need a reason to do bad things. Some people did things just because they could and no one could stop them. But that didn't seem to be Anon-A-Miss's goal. Just what was their game plan?
It wasn't until after she put the tray in the kitchen sink that it finally hit her.
"She was framed," she whispered, body lightly trembling.
The profile, the first set of secrets, all of it was so Anon-A-Miss could do as they wished to the student body while dumping all of the blame on Sunset. Anon-A-Miss didn't want to destroy the school, he wanted to destroy Sunset's good name. As this knowledge circled through her head, anger and disgust began to boil in the gray teen's heart until it became something she hadn't felt in a long time; pure white-hot hate.
In a matter of seconds, Derpy ran from the kitchen to her bedroom and as soon as she found her phone on her nightstand grabbed it. With shaking hands, she scrolled through her contacts until she found the number she needed. With a harder then necessary jab, she selected the number and brought the phone to her ear. After three rings a groggy groan answered her.
"Lyra?" Derpy asked, her voice a monotoned whisper.
"Derpy?" Lyra yawned from her end of the line. "What's going on?"
"Could you do me a favor?" Derpy continued, tone still icy.
"Uh, sure," she said, concern decorating her tone. "What do ya need?"
"Call up the girls for me and tell them to meet me at Starebucks in two hours. We need to talk about a few things."
Not waiting for a response, Derpy hung up the phone before flopping onto her bed, desperate to get her anger under control. Once she won that battle, she let out a weary sigh and a single thought floated to the front of her mind.
This was going to be a long day.