//------------------------------// // Bummer // Story: The Loss of Sunset // by SquiggelSquirrel //------------------------------// The girls were confused. Moreso, when Sunset returned from her talk with Applejack, and Applejack did not. Sunset's face did not alleviate their uncertainty in the slightest. It looked like she had been crying, heavily, yet her expression now was almost deliriously happy, as she bounced across the flagstones and back to her mother's side. When Sunset reached them, both Twilight and Rarity had time to open with a ubiquitous “Um…?” before Sunset preemptively interrupted them all. “Okay girls we'll catch up on Monday enjoy your weekends see you all later I'm going now bye!” she rushed, taking her mother by the hand and leading her away. “It was nice meeting you all…” offered Honey Swirl, slightly less dazed than Sunset's friends, as the two departed towards the car across the street. The girls murmured a collective reciprocation but stayed rooted to the spot, watching them go. Only when the car pulled away with the pair inside did the group left behind begin processing recent events. Their gazes turned back towards the corner around which Applejack had lead Sunset, and from around which Applejack was yet to return. Lacking any other obvious direction or impulse, they began walking in that direction. Though not one of them could yet put it into words, each carried an unsettled feeling within them that now began blossoming into worry and panic, driving them to pick up the pace from a walk to a jog and then a sprint, dread and certainty that some as yet unknown misfortune was even now befalling them and their friends allowing no slower approach. Except Pinkie Pie. She didn't know what was going on either, but was happily prepared to keep up with the running and find out later. After all, wouldn't it be silly to get all worried and panicky before you even know if there's anything to get all worried and panicky about? Rounding the corner, they found Applejack. She was sat, slumped against the wall, staring vacantly through the pavement some distance beyond her boots. Her hat had fallen, and she had made no effort to retrieve it. Absently, she was nursing her left hand in her right, both resting on her lap. She gave no acknowledgement of their presence until Rarity, kneeling beside her, placed one hand on Applejack's shoulder and the other on Applejack's cheek, gently bringing the other girl's face around to her own. “Applejack, darling,” Rarity began softly, once the farmgirl's eyes met her own, “what happened? Are you alright? What— what do you need us to do?” Applejack blinked, and shifted her legs slightly, turning her head so that Rarity dropped her hand away. She looked around at the faces of the other girls, all looking at her with concern. “She…” Applejack hesitated. “She's gone?” “You mean Sunset?” Rarity prompted. “Yeah… Sunset. Did she… did she leave, with that woman?” “You mean her mother?” “I'm still a little confused about that,” interjected Twilight, one finger raised hesitantly. “She… that was… that was Sunset's mother, right? That we just met?” “Well who else would it be!?” asked Rainbow Dash. “Ooh!” exclaimed Pinkie, “Maybe it was the other Sunset's mother! I mean, just like Twilight has another Twilight and Spike has another Spike, maybe Sunset Shimmer has another Sunset Shimmer who has another Sunset Shimmer's mother!?” “Pinkie,” chided Rarity “I'm certain Sunset would be able to tell the difference between her real mother and… someone else. Right?” “But… what if…” worry had finally gained a tenuous foothold on Pinkie's mind, and by extension both her face and voice, “what if she could tell the difference, but she decided she liked this other mother so much that she wanted to go with her anyway?” “Sunset wouldn't—” began Twilight, “I mean, Sunset wouldn't do that, would she?” “She would and did,” announced Applejack flatly. No-one spoke. Five faces turned, horror-struck, towards Applejack. When all five began talking at once, it was Rainbow Dash who eventually won out, by twin virtues of volume and persistence. “…she even do that?” Rainbow continued, when he voice was no longer drowned out. “Why didn't you stop her!?” Applejack looked up at Rainbow Dash, and sighed. “I guess I just couldn't find the right words.” ”The right words!?” Rainbow shouted. “Rainbow, darling,” Rarity interrupted, waving Rainbow to be quiet, “whatever happened, I'm sure yelling about it isn't going to help.” She turned back to Applejack. “Applejack, dear, there's something else, isn't there?” Applejack picked her hat up, and looked at it. “Yeah…” she muttered, before returning it to her head. She reached out her right hand to Rarity, who uncertainly mirrored the gesture — Applejack then gripped Rarity's wrist and hauled herself up, Rarity providing a steady hand-hold more than any actual lifting. Once standing, Applejack looked around the other girls again, inattentive to Rainbow Dash's impatient glowering. She took a deep breath, and answered Rarity's question glumly. “Seems I've more in common with Sunset than I knew. But I'm guessing she never told any of y'all about that, either…” Rarity squeaked and clapped a hand to her mouth. Rainbow Dash looked taken aback, apprehensive but still enquiring. The other girls' expressions did not change much at the revelation; Pinkie Pie's face was still oddly blank and uncertain, Fluttershy had been wearing a mix of fear and despair since seeing Applejack's despondent state, her expression could hardly deepen at this point. Twilight still radiated polite confusion tinged with only a hint of worry. “Y-you…” stammered Rainbow “you don't mean…?” “Both orphans, I guess,” shrugged Applejack, lifting her left hand gingerly into her right. Rainbow was stunned, slightly shaking, glancing back and forth between Applejack, and the road that had recently carried Sunset away. Twilight was clearly horrified, and Rarity was actually crying a little. Applejack just looked annoyed, increasingly so with each passing moment. “I should've stopped her,” she said, “I just… she caught me off guard, is all. Asking what I'd do in her place. Didn't have an honest answer ready.” Rarity placed a hand on Applejack's shoulder. “Y'all reckon we should chase after her?” Applejack asked. “Y-yeah,” Rainbow Dash croaked, “I mean, yeah, of course we do, right?” “What do we even say to her?” thought Twight aloud. “Well, whatever we say, I might need to see the doctor first,” Applejack said. “Y'all could go on without me, maybe.” The girls stared at her. Fluttershy spoke first. “Doctor?” “Ah, it's nothing big,” Applejack grimaced slightly. “I just punched the wall a bit earlier and I reckon I mighta slightly… broken my hand again, a little.” “Broken?” “A little!?” “Again?” “Oh, Applejack, darling!” Rarity swooped in, immediately descending on the damaged appendage for closer inspection, carefully hoisting Applejack's arm for a clearer view. “Oh dear, it's already started swelling. We simply must get you seen to right away.” She frowned at Applejack. “Darling you really should have said something sooner. Now come on — it will be quicker to walk, from here.” Rarity lead the way without another moment's pause, and Applejack followed behind. “But…” called Twilight, chasing after Applejack, “what did you say? If we know how the conversation went, it might give us some ideas of what to say when we catch up to her…” With Twilight chasing after Applejack, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy followed, continuing to discuss their next course of action. Pinkie Pie remained standing a short while, staring at the ground where Applejack had sat. Her face was creased with worry, her hair seemed to hang heavier than usual. “Bummer,” she remarked, before sighing, spinning on one heel, and chasing after the other girls.