//------------------------------// // 26. The Longest Sunday // Story: It's The End Of The World As We Know It // by Samey90 //------------------------------// When on Monday morning Indigo reached the school, Sugarcoat was already there. She was sitting by the wall, staring at something in front of her. Indigo approached her and patted her back. “What’s up?” she asked. “Still salty about Sandalwood calling you a control freak?” “Nah, this wanker will eat his words, sooner or later.” Sugarcoat smirked. “I keep reliving the moment when Muffins lashed out on Flash…” “That was a dick move,” Indigo muttered. “I mean, implying that he’s still in love with Sunset.” Sugarcoat shrugged. “Well, remember that they became a couple because she wrestled him to the ground. And while he probably didn’t mean to stare at other girls, he kept doing that. I mean, what guy keeps forgetting that he’s in a relationship three weeks after this happened? And she clearly preferred not to notice. By pointing it out now, I saved her a lot of trouble later.” “No wonder Sandalwood will come back to you,” Indigo said. “You two are clearly from the same planet.” “See?” Sugarcoat nodded and smiled proudly. “Muffins will thank me…” Indigo smirked. “Yeah, I talked with her yesterday. She really appreciates that.” Muffins slid the hand plane down the board, sending wood shavings around. Indigo watched it from a safe distance while Bulk was nailing the boards to the skeleton of the boat. “See?” Indigo asked. “Hard work makes you forget about bad stuff…” Muffins looked at the hand plane. “Can I use it to peel skin off Sugarcoat’s skull?” “That’s not the intended use,” Bulk said. “And it’d be hard to clean the blood. But if you want, I can lend you an angle grinder. You can start with the legs…” “Or maybe I’ll just shave her…” Muffins turned to Indigo. “She’s proud of her hair, isn’t she?” “Heads would roll.” Indigo shrugged. “But to think about it, what was all that about? I mean, you’re more pissed at Sugarcoat than Flash…” “Now that he realised he’s been doing that, he thinks he doesn’t deserve me.” Muffins sighed. “Or he just needed an occasion to run,” Indigo said. “Seriously, I don’t think I’d bother.” “You bothered with me,” Bulk said. “Yeah, but you’re not Flash,” Indigo replied. “I mean, he’s fine, if you’re into–” She looked at Muffins. “What are you into?” “Currently into building boats.” Muffins grabbed a saw. “And bloody revenge.” “Then you’d have to use that on Sandalwood,” Bulk said, pointing at the saw. “Though I’d use a chisel. But to think about it, Sugarcoat wouldn’t care much.” “Yeah, they got kinda mad at each other.” Muffins nodded. “I never thought it was possible.” She took a chisel from the table and spun it between her fingers. “I guess I’ll have to– Ouch!” She dropped the chisel and put her finger in her mouth. “Is everything okay?” Indigo asked. “I cut off my finger,” Muffins replied in monotone, staring at a small cut on her finger. “Or maybe not.” She clicked her tongue. “Is it blood?” “I’ll get a band-aid,” Indigo muttered when Bulk caught Muffins before she fell on the ground. “Hmm, so you’re saying that she gave you a list of holes in my body where she’d like to put a chisel in?” Sugarcoat asked. “That’s quite unlike her.” “That wasn’t a list.” Indigo shrugged. “She just mentioned all of them, once she woke up.” “Yet she faints at the sight of blood.” Sugarcoat smirked. “It won’t go on for too long.” “Only if it’s her blood,” Indigo said. “She’s fine with other people’s blood.” Sugarcoat chuckled. “Oh, so once a month–” “I was just hoping we wouldn’t turn this into a conversation about periods.” Indigo rolled her eyes. “Why?” Sugarcoat asked. “Homo sum, humani nihil a me alienum puto, after all.” Before Indigo could tell Sugarcoat her thoughts on Latin, they heard some commotion not far away from there. It got even stranger when they raised their heads and saw that the source of the noise were Lemon Zest and Sour Sweet. Normally, those two managed to keep civil at school, even if by that they meant not talking to each other and ostensively ignoring each other’s existence. “What’s going on?” Indigo asked when Lemon and Sour approached them. “Oh, Indigo! How nice to see you,” Sour Sweet said. “Tell me, did Sunny come here with you?” “She called me yesterday, telling me not to wait for her,” Indigo replied. “She sounded sick. Why are you asking?” “I need to break her leg,” Sour Sweet muttered. “And before you say that’s insane, Lemon wants to do that too. That’s, like, the only thing we agree upon.” Indigo rolled her eyes. “Can’t you hurt Sugarcoat instead? You could form the 'Everybody Hates Sugarcoat' club with Muffins.” Sugarcoat sighed. “What did Sunny do to earn such an attention from you?” Before Sour could reply, Lemon shoved her aside. “Sweet Leaf and I were helping her find her mother. And of course, she had to talk with Sweet Leaf…” “Oh, stop whining,” Sour Sweet muttered. “I mean, you weren’t the one cockblocked…” She looked at Indigo and Sugarcoat. “Metaphorically speaking.” Lemon frowned. “But still, you just had to–” “What I had to?” Sour Sweet rolled her eyes. “Oh, sorry for learning what you say about me behind my back!” “You deserved it!” Lemon exclaimed. “Shut up, you two,” Sugarcoat muttered. Somehow, it was more effective than shouting. “Now, tell me what happened. Indigo, if they keep arguing, I let you headbutt them.” “Why would I?” “Because you seem to like it, if Juniper Montage's face is any indication.” Sugarcoat turned to Sour Sweet and Lemon. “Tell me what happened, kids.” Sour Sweet shuddered. The jacket she was wearing wasn’t the best bet for the cold and wet weather, but it was as revealing as it could be without Sour Sweet risking freezing to death. It didn’t matter – Sour hoped she wouldn’t be outdoors for long. When Sweet Leaf had invited her for a coffee, Sour’s heart started to race. She darted out of the house, nearly knocking Sour Patch over, and rushed to the cafe, ignoring the cold. Now she finally opened the door of a quaint, little cafe devoid of the forced hipster feel of other such establishments in the town, and approached the table where she saw Sweet Leaf and– “You’ve gotta be fucking kidding me,” Sour Sweet muttered, looking at Lemon Zest, who was sitting next to Sweet Leaf. “Sour?” Lemon looked at her classmate before turning to Sweet Leaf. “You two know each other?” “I was just going to ask the same thing,” Sour Sweet muttered. “What’s going on?” “Sit down, Sour,” Sweet Leaf said, blushing. “We need to talk…” “If you say something like, ‘you probably wonder why I gathered you here’, I’m gonna–” Sour’s eyes met Sweet Leaf’s and for a moment they remained locked. “– leave.” “What happened to you punching people who disagree with you?” Lemon Zest asked. “Well, that was what I wanted to talk about,” Sweet Leaf said quickly, seeing Sour Sweet’s face turning red. “I mean, umm… Sunny Flare told me that you two were, umm… together. I wasn’t sure if she was telling the truth, but now I see she was. Also, since I’m friends with both of you, I wouldn’t want to, you know, make it awkward by…” She looked into her coffee. “I just made it more awkward, didn’t I?” “Yes,” Lemon Zest muttered. “You could’ve just asked me.” “Or me.” Sour Sweet crossed her arms. “No need to turn it into a fucking group therapy.” Sweet Leaf shrugged. “Well, I kinda wanted to hear both sides of the story.” “There’s only one side.” Lemon turned to Sour. “She’s insane.” “That’s not my fault,” Sour Sweet said. “You’re, however, a bitch. That is your fault.” “Of course, because it’s never your fault!” Lemon exclaimed. “When you tried to turn me into your personal punching bag, that wasn’t your fault either, right?” “This again?” Sour Sweet rolled her eyes. “For your information: when your mother died, I was there for you. All the time! But when I needed you, you turned your back on me!” “Girls…” Sweet Leaf muttered. “What did you even need me for?” Lemon shouted. “Have someone to hit? Someone to fu–” “I had a mental breakdown if you didn’t notice!” Sour Sweet exclaimed. “I ran away from home on Christmas!” “Because you told your parents that we were together,” Lemon replied. “I didn’t exactly feel like telling them that, but you never care about anything I want or feel!” “Girls, maybe we should take this somewhere else?” Sweet Leaf muttered before Sour Sweet could say something. She was almost hiding under the table while everyone in the cafe looked at them. What was worse, it seemed that Sweet Leaf’s classmate, Drama Letter, started to work there again. This meant the whole school would soon know all the details of their argument. Lemon Zest stood up. “I know where I’m gonna take this. Anywhere but here, with you two.” She turned back and stormed out of the cafe. “Seems that we’re on the same boat now,” Sour Sweet muttered. “Welcome aboard the ‘Oh Shit, I Fucked Up Big Time’.” “Wow…” Sweet Leaf took a deep breath; her face was still pale. “That’s just… You two are terrible, you know?” Sour Sweet furrowed her eyebrows. “Don’t blame us. We were perfectly fine with avoiding talking to each other and being civil in those rare cases when we had to interact. Just… What the hell was that? I mean, what gave you the idea...” Sweet Leaf’s eyes filled with tears. “I just wanted to know you better… I mean, you never mentioned you knew her–” Sour Sweet grabbed Sweet Leaf’s hand. “It’s okay… I just thought you were wiser than that…” “She never told me that her ex was you,” Sweet Leaf said. “When I heard of it, I could never believe that you’d be able to–” She hissed when Sour tightened her grip around her hand, nearly crushing it. “So, you’re gossiping about me?” Sour Sweet muttered. “Oh, that’s just rich. And when you heard we used to be together you wanted to check if you could make us both happy?” “Stop it…” Sweet Leaf whispered. Sour Sweet let go off her hand. “I really thought you were wiser than that, Sweet Leaf. I’m disappointed and when someone disappoints me…” She looked deeply into Sweet Leaf’s eyes, causing her to move back with her seat. However, after a while, Sour Sweet dropped back on her chair, breathing deeply. “Don’t give me that look, I’m fine. I just need to think about a few things.” She got up and walked out of the cafe. Trying to remain calm, she walked for two blocks, staring at the ground and carefully avoiding bumping into people. Then she turned into a side street and rested her back against the wall of a nearby building, producing her phone. She unlocked it and checked the recent numbers before picking one. “This is Sunny Flare. I’m currently starting a revolution in a small African country, so I can’t really pick up your call. If you really need to, leave a message after the beep thingy.” Sour Sweet groaned, listening to the signal. “You’re already dead, cunt…” “Not cool,” Sugarcoat muttered. “From all sides.” “Well, at least coffee sales went up,” Indigo said. “I mean, after witnessing such a drama, everyone could use a drink…” Lemon Zest pouted. “That’s not funny. Do you know how I felt?” “It will be once Sunny shows up.” Indigo chuckled. “Betrayed and humiliated,” Lemon muttered. “I cried all night.” Sour Sweet shrugged. “It’d be better if you didn’t start yelling at everyone. We could’ve just told Sweet Leaf that–” “Oh, because you’re so prim and proper now?” Lemon groaned. “Go back to her. It seems you two really love each other…” “Chill out, both of you,” Sugarcoat said. “And you, Indigo. Something tells me Sunny won’t show up for a while, at least until you stop behaving like children. Be classy, like Sandalwood and I…” “There was nothing classy about it.” Indigo smirked. “Also, how should Sunny know you don’t want to murder her anymore? Should we call her, or what?” “I already did…” Lemon muttered. The sharp ringtone threw Sunny awake. She groaned, tossing in her bed and opened her bloodshot eyes. She and her father found her mother sitting on a bench in a remote part of the park; she was drunk and nearly passed out from cold, but they managed to put her in the car before someone noticed them. However, someone took a photo of them when they arrived to the hospital and Sunny didn’t need internet to know that everyone already knew Lens Flare had a problem. Sunny’s father stayed in the hospital with her mom. However, he called an assistant who drove Sunny home and was currently asleep on the couch, after Sunny told her that she was most definitely too tired for a suicide attempt or whatever her father thought she might try. The wrist device rang again, causing Sunny to curse and pick up the call. “Fuck off, it’s 4 AM,” she muttered. “You can kill me later.” “Are you okay, Sunny?” Sunny blinked, recognising the voice. “Lemon,” she said, sitting on her bed. “My mom is in the hospital. Judging from Sour Sweet’s message, Sweet Leaf proved once again that she’s a mental fuck-up and you all think it’s my fault. Fine. I haven’t had a drink since last year and I flushed all the weird pills I found down the toilet. Fine. My family is doing everything to make me wish I didn’t. It’s 4 AM and when I finally managed to fall asleep, you call me. Does that sound like I am okay?” “No.” “Great.” Sunny ended the call, then took off her wrist device and threw it on the nightstand. She rolled out of her bed and dragged her feet across the room. Then she opened the closet and looked at the top shelf. There, hidden behind old clothes, wrapped in a small jacket from her first grade school uniform, was the only bottle of vodka that survived the numerous periods of purge and relapse. Sunny knew it was there when she got rid of her stocks by the end of December. She was pretty sure she put it, together with other bottles in some dark nook, probably causing some homeless bum to have the best Christmas of his life. However, the bottle was still there. Sunny looked at it unsurely. The weight was as it should be, same with the way cold glass was touching her skin. She spun it, feeling the contents swirl inside. Sunny went back to her bed, cradling the bottle in her arms. She looked at it and her hand trembled. She promised herself. She knew exactly what happened to her mother and that she most definitely didn’t want to follow that path. However, the bottle was so tempting… Sunny focused on thinking what’d her father say if he came back and found her inebriated again. There was also that assistant, a bored woman in thick-rimmed glasses, who was asleep on the couch downstairs. Sunny thought she looked rather dumb, but after all, her father had hired her for some reason. Most definitely not because of sex. Sunny found her thoroughly unattractive. For a moment, Sunny’s hand clenched on the bottle. She wanted to break it, to throw it at the wall, only to find out that it was still in her hand. She took a deep breath. Her hands trembled so badly she could barely read the name on the label. “You haven’t eaten in hours,” she whispered to herself. “A few gulps and you’re gonna be throwing up like a cat on drugs… If not worse.” Swallowing her tears, she opened the bottle. “So, that’s all she said?” Indigo asked. “Well, Lemon had a great idea to call her in the middle of the night,” Sugarcoat muttered. “You’d probably respond with ‘fuck off’ or something equally eloquent.” “Maybe I’ll call her.” Indigo grabbed her phone. “Just to make sure she’s okay.” “Nah, she’s probably drunk out of her mind, sitting on the roof and throwing her clothes at people.” “She said she would never drink again.” Sour Sweet furrowed her eyebrows. “But well, it’s Sunny we’re talking about.” Before anyone could think of anything to respond to that, they heard the bell ringing. Sugarcoat stood up with a sigh and followed her friends to the class, lost in her thoughts. Sandalwood looked at the wooden structure in front of him. After a brief consideration of all the options, he grabbed a hammer and tried to drive another nail into it. The structure fell apart, boards and planks scattered on the floor. “I don’t get why did you take that course,” Bulk said. “I mean, you always preferred to save trees from being cut rather than make stuff out of wood.” “I have to maintain my manly image,” Sandalwood replied. “Now that I’m free as a bird again…” “Watch out or you’ll end up like Flash,” Bulk muttered. “I’ve heard from Ringo that he makes them practice sad country songs.” “That bad?” Sandalwood shrugged. “Flash needs to learn to handle a breakup like a grown man. With a hammer in his hand.” He swung a hammer, narrowly avoiding hitting his forehead with it. “He does that better,” Bulk muttered, looking at the wooden cart he’d built. “Besides, does it mean you and Sugarcoat are done with each other?” “Definitely,” Sandalwood replied. “Well, most likely.” He shrugged. “If you want to get a bigger Crystal Prep harem, no problem. I can give you a list of things she likes.” “No, thanks,” Bulk said. “I just hope Indigo told her to watch out for Muffins.” Sandalwood looked into the corner of the class where Muffins was working. “Ah, so that’s why she tries to hide an angle grinder in her backpack?” “More or less,” Bulk said. “Hmm, do you know someone who could use a wooden cart?” “Sugarcoat, after Muffins is done with her.” Sandalwood shrugged. “Anyway, I’ll tell you a funny thing. Remember that girl from the debate team?” “I don’t know any girls from the debate team,” Bulk replied. “I barely even talk with your weird friends, maybe except of Planet.” “Sweet Leaf,” Sandalwood said, trying to put the remains of his cart together. “Green hair, hat, such stuff. You know, it seems that there needs to be a constant amount of relationships between us and students of Crystal Prep. Like, you know what Starlight told me?” “Starlight is that purple-haired one, right?” Bulk sighed. “She tried to beat Indigo.” “Starlight?” Sandalwood smirked. “She wouldn’t hurt a fly. Anyway, she said Sweet Leaf hangs out with a girl from Crystal Prep. Guess which one.” “Sour Sweet,” Bulk said. “She is the only Crystal Prep student Starlight knows.” “Damn.” Sandalwood chuckled. “Hang out with me more and you’re gonna be even smarter. Anyway, when we talked about this, Drama Letter came to us. She works in a cafe again, you know. She said that–” “Sandalwood, if you put as much effort into building this cart as you put in spreading rumours, it’d already fly to the moon,” Bulk muttered. “Well, I can always call it modern art.” Sandalwood prodded the remains of his cart with his foot, causing it to break and collapse completely. “Anyway, Drama Letter–” Bulk sighed and shook his head. Sunny took a deep breath. Cold air made her head spin, but she hardly cared. She was sure she’d get late for school; successfully evading her father’s assistant by getting out through the window took her quite a long time. Now, she decided to ditch the bus and take a shortcut via the snow-covered park. She had no time to waste. Unfortunately for Sunny, in drunken stupor she hardly noticed that while she was walking in a generally good direction, it was already closer to the lunch break than the beginning of the classes. Sunny’s father assistant, hearing the commotion coming from Sunny’s room in the morning, when she was finishing the bottle, assumed she was getting ready for school and went upstairs to catch up with some paperwork. Therefore, she never noticed how and when Sunny left for school. The park was almost empty, but somehow, it was hard to walk through wet, melting snow. Sunny tripped a few times, nearly lost her way, and bumped into a tree next to the path. “Watch out!” she yelled. The tree didn’t reply, so she flipped it off and continued to walk. The sun was bright, reflecting off of the snow, and jarring her eyes. Tears welled in them, making her vision even more blurry. Sunny blinked. It was cold and she was feeling sleepy. There were more and more trees around – a sign that she was close to the school, approaching the building from behind. Still, it seemed far away; Sunny trembled, staggering, and started to look for some bench to sit on, for just a few minutes. There was none around, but the huge pile of snow next to the fence looked welcoming too… “Hey! What are you doing here?” Sunny shook off the grogginess and looked at the girl standing on the other side of the pile. She was short; as far as Sunny could tell, even shorter than Indigo. Sunny immediately thought it was the fault of cigarettes; the girl was just smoking one. She struggled to recall her name. “Hi, Suri,” she slurred after she managed to do so. “Smoking before the lessons, huh?” Suri blew out the smoke and furrowed her eyebrows, looking at dishevelled Sunny. “It’s lunch break, you drunk moron.” “Oh.” Sunny staggered and collapsed into the pile of snow. “I’m late for school…” “You can be dying of alcohol poisoning and that’s what you worry about? Geez.” Suri shook her head. “But well, every cloud’s got a silver lining…” Sunny looked at the sky. “Bullshit. I can’t see any.” Suri smirked. “If the mountain won’t come to Muhammad…” “Why Muhammad?” Sunny blinked, trying to focus her gaze on Suri. “Mountains, clouds… Fuck them all.” “I texted you and you never replied,” Suri said. “And I texted you because Lemon Mint told me you and Zap put your dirty hands on someone’s nudes.” Sunny scratched her head. “Don’t bother. You don’t know that girl anyway.” “Then it won’t do any harm.” Suri smirked. “Also, I can tell you something funny about Frosty Orange.” Sunny shrugged. “Sour Sweet will be very angry if those end up being posted somewhere.” “They won’t.” Suri sat next to Sunny and patted her back. “You have my word.” “Mhm.” Sunny unlocked her wrist device and searched through the folders. “There.” She hiccuped. “As I said, you don’t know her.” “Not from this side.” Suri tilted her head, staring at the screen. Then, she poked Sunny. “Don’t fall asleep, you pathetic drunk. Could you send those to me?” “I guess I could…” Sunny slurred, struggling to keep awake. “Sharing is, like, caring.” She tapped the screen a few times, missing her mark more often than not, but Suri eventually heard the sound of her phone receiving a message. “Just remember,” Sunny whispered. “If Sour hears about that, we’re dead.” She smiled. “Those two are dating!” “Yeah, I’ll surely remember that,” Suri muttered, hiding her phone in her purse. “Hey, you awake?” Sunny lowered her head, snoring. Her breath was rather shallow and when Suri poked her, she found out that her skin was cold and dry. “Oh, just great,” she muttered, looking around. “Anyone here?” She sighed and grabbed Sunny’s arm, dragging her to the hole in the fence surrounding the school. It wasn’t easy; while Sunny was short and thin herself, she was still a good few inches taller than Suri. Luckily, a slap to the face woke her up enough to take a few steps before collapsing in the car park. “Oh, fuck this…” Suri muttered, grabbing her phone and picked the first number she found. “Trenderhoof? Get your ass to the car park, okay? We have a problem…” Sugarcoat just finished her lunch when they heard the sirens. At first she thought the ambulance was going somewhere else, but the signal grew louder, soon drowning every conversation in the canteen. Sugarcoat put down the fork and took a grim look at her friends. “So, it came to this,” she muttered. “Moondancer finally flipped and is gonna shoot us all.” “No way,” Sour Sweet said. “I didn’t hear any shots. Besides, Moondancer visits my mom, who gave her pills that are better than mine…” “Yeah, and she’s sitting there, in the corner,” Indigo said. “We should, like, go to Canterlot High and arrange her a date with the fellow weirdo…” “First, we’d better see what’s going on.” Lemon stood up. “Maybe someone needs help…” “Or you just need something to gossip about,” Sour replied. “Guess Trenderhoof got ran over or something. He ran out of here as if his ass was on fire.” “Maybe.” Indigo walked to the canteen’s door and grabbed some younger student, who was passing by. “Hey, do you know what’s going on?” The short girl with glasses shrugged. “Someone passed out at the car park. They say she had diabetes, but to me she looked kinda drunk. And weird, no jacket or anything in that weather.” “Okay, okay, don’t be such a smartass.” Indigo released the girl and walked back to her friends. “Does anyone in school have diabetes?” “Ginger Owlseye,” Lemon replied. “Remember, she told us what to do in case she gets hypoglycemia.” Indigo nodded. “Orange Sherbette too. She has that inhaler…” Sugarcoat sighed. “She has asthma, you moron.” Indigo looked at Sugarcoat and rolled her eyes. “Anyway, Ginger is here, which leaves the second option. Who’d be dumb enough to come to school drunk and nearly freeze to de–” Suddenly, the realisation came upon her. “Sunny.” “Sunny,” Sugarcoat muttered, rushing down the corridor.