//------------------------------//
// Chapter 4 
// Story: Blamed 
// by Madox 
//------------------------------//

'I'm such an idiot!'  Sunset scolded herself as she stood in the middle of an alley, looking  from one side to the other at the teens surrounding her. 'Every normal person would stay inside after what happened over the past two days, but nooo. I just had to go out again and find answers. Mom was right; I'm way too stubborn for my own good.'

Same  crowd, different day. Sunset had gotten off lucky the previous day;  before the gang could do too much to her, a car crashed nearby,  distracting them long enough for Sunset to escape. Thanking her lucky  stars, she ended up running toward the nearest bus stop and hiding in  her house the rest of the day.

Today, Sunset, dead set on getting  answers, had once again left the safety of her parents’ house. She had  started earlier than the previous days in the hopes that she would not  run into any more incidents. Little did she know that she would run into another incident and that it would be with the very same teens she escaped from yesterday.

And  Sunset’s plan was so logical, too. She had noticed that nearly everyone  who beat her or yelled at her has been around her age, and so she  thought she would be safe during the earlier hours while those teenagers  were at school.

Looking for answers, Sunset had addressed several  passersby she met while she was walking through town, but they either  didn't know anything, refused to talk to her, or outright ignored her.  On the bright side, being ignored is better than being attacked.

Time  passed faster than she expected, and before she knew it, more and more  teenagers started walking around, signaling Sunset that it would be for  the best to get away from the streets to avoid any more trouble. She  could live with one day without any trouble.

Fate had other plans for her, though.

Sunset  had lost track of where she had been going during her investigation and  ended up forgetting the way to the closest bus stop. Keeping her eyes  open for trouble, she began to search for a stop. She came to an abrupt  halt when she saw the same group who had chased her the previous day  walking around the corner further down the street.

She quickly  tried to hide in a nearby alley, hoping that they hadn’t seen her. That  hope was dashed when she heard them calling her name, and she soon found  herself surrounded once more.

"Did you really think you could  escape twice, Shimmer?" a boy said from behind her. It was the same one  who did the talking the previous day, and from what she could tell, he  was the leader.

"I don't even know why I have to run in the first  place!" Sunset yelled back in a desperate attempt to get them to listen.  "I’ve never done anything to anyone in this town!"

Laughter was  the only response she received from the whole group. "Oh man, that was a  good one!” the boy said sarcastically. The laughter abruptly stopped.  “But we’re not here for jokes!" They all slowly advanced on her, only to  stop when a ringing echoed through the alley. Groaning, the leader took  out his phone and answered it.

"What is it?" he growled, before  suddenly holding the phone as far away from his ear as possible. Sunset  could hear a loud voice coming from the phone but couldn’t understand  what was said. "Woah, chill out, Gilda! What got you so riled up?"

Sunset  wasn’t able to hear anything Gilda said, but looking at those who  surrounded her and how they were looking at each other with a mix of  nervousness and predatory excitement, she got a really bad feeling in  the pit of her gut.

"Yeah, we got her right in front of us. We  were just about to teach her a lesson." The leader paused as Gilda  spoke, before his jaw dropped in surprise. "Let her go!? Why should we?"

Gilda’s voice grew louder again as everyone in the alley, including Sunset, looked at each other, confused.

"Alright, alright, fine! You’re the boss. I’ll send you the info in a bit,” the leader said resignedly.

The  leader ended the call and sighed before looking at the others of his  group. "Okay, guys. We’re done here. And believe me, you don't wanna be  around her," he added when he saw his companions trying to argue. They  all shared a few looks with each other before they begrudgingly left the  alley, the ones who blocked Sunset's escape shoving Sunset to the side  while passing her. "You got lucky again, Shimmer," the leader growled  before he, too, turned and left the alley, fumbling with his phone.

Sunset  stood dumbfounded in the middle of the alley, staring after the group.  She wasn't entirely sure what had just happened. On the one hand, she  was glad that she got away unharmed, but on the other hand, she was  worried about what she heard from the one-sided phone call and what that  guy said at the end about not wanting to be around her. She had a guess  on who Gilda was, and a pit grew in her stomach as she was somehow sure  that she was right.

'I need to get out of here,' she thought, running out of the alley in the opposite direction the group took.

Sunset  ran down the sidewalk as fast as her legs would carry her, frantically  looking around for the nearest bus stop. For half an hour, she ran  around, desperately looking for a bus, but she found not a single one.  Eventually, she was forced to stop and catch her breath, leaning against  a wall.

'Come on! There’s got to be a stop somewhere!' she thought. 'Did I miss one, or is there just none around here?'

Sunset  rested at the wall for about five minutes before she slowly started  walking again, looking around for a way to get home as fast as possible.  Her search was interrupted by a sudden feeling of dread and déjà vu  when someone grabbed her and threw her against the near wall of another  alley. She was unable to get a look at her aggressor before she was  grabbed by the collar of her coat and dragged further into the alley,  where she was rammed hard against the wall.

"You think you’re so funny, don’t you?"

Sunset  yelped in pain when her assailant slammed her against the wall again.  She opened her eyes, but she already knew who her attacker was. G, or  Gilda, stared furiously back into her eyes with a look that made  Sunset’s blood run cold. Sunset grabbed Gilda’s wrists and desperately  tried to free herself, but Gilda’s grip was iron.

"I went easy on  you by not breaking anything last time." Another slam against the wall,  "And I was even nice enough to stop the others." Another slam. "And you  repay me by making me the laughingstock of Canterlot High and the whole  goddamn city!"

Gilda turned and shoved Sunset away from her. Sunset collided against a dumpster, her head slamming into it with a loud clang.

Lying on the ground and groaning in pain, Sunset looked up at her tormentor as she began weakly, "I don't know—"

"Stop  it with your stupid excuses!" Gilda yelled, stalking closer till she  stood over Sunset. "I showed you mercy once, but not this time!"

Sunset's  eyes grew in fear when Gilda pulled out a knife. She tried to crawl  backwards, but she only hit the dumpster behind her as Gilda leaned  over, knife raised point-down.

"Guess it’s time to finally get rid of our demon problem."

"Not if I have anything to say about it!" a familiar voice called from behind Gilda.

"What—"  Gilda exclaimed in surprise, but before she could finish, she was  shoved head-first against the same dumpster Sunset collided with before.  She dropped her knife and held her head in her hands, but she was  unable to do much more before the newcomer grabbed her, threw her head  over heels into the open dumpster, and slammed the lid shut.

Sunset  stared at the person in front of her. From what she could see from her  viewpoint, the girl was the same height as she was. She was wearing  jeans and a black hoodie, but the hood was up, and the girl had her head  turned away, which made it hard for Sunset to make out the details of  her face.

"That won't stop her for long. Can you run?" the girl said while she held an amber-colored hand out to help Sunset up.

That  girl’s voice made Sunset hesitate for a second, but when the trapped  thug began pounding against the walls of the dumpster as she presumably  struggled to get up, she nodded and took the offered hand.

With  the girl’s help, Sunset was back on her feet, and both of them quickly  left the alley, Sunset's rescuer leading the way. Together, they ran for  several minutes through streets and alleys alike before they finally  stopped to catch their breath.

"That should be far enough for a  few minutes’ rest," the girl said before she turned around, keeping her  face turned away. She stood silently for a minute, watching Sunset, who  was sitting and holding her head in pain. "Did she hurt you?" she  eventually asked with worry.

"My head and back hurts, but I think  I’ll manage. I’ve had worse this week alone," Sunset said, breathless.  She looked up at her savior with narrowed eyes. "Thank you for saving  me, but who are you? Your voice... It sounds just like mine."

"Well,  this will be awkward and strange, and there’s a good explanation for  this, but…" the girl began. She lifted her hands and pulled her hood  down, revealing her red and blond hair and her amber face with cyan  eyes. She smiled at Sunset's shocked face.

"…In a weird way, I'm you."

Sunset blinked several times. "I must’ve hit my head harder than I thought..." she mumbled.

And everything went dark.