The next day at CHS held every promise the previous one had made. As soon as Sunset Shimmer entered through the front door of the school, the buzzing conversations between the students mingling in the entry hall ceased and all eyes turned towards her. The news seemed to have spread at this point, because even a few students who hadn’t glared yesterday, were now looking at Sunset with open hostility.
With a mental sigh, Sunset steeled herself and walked past the crowd, meeting the venomous looks with an expression of measured indifference. As a professional bully and subsequent professional punching bag, Sunset knew not to show them any weakness. These kids hated her guts right now and the moment they believed they could get away with it, they wouldn’t hesitate to vent those feelings. Thus, Sunset drew upon her vast experience at being a tough girl, to project an aura of concentrated ‘Don’t fuck with me’. It lasted for about ten seconds, before the first paper ball hit the back of her head.
With a snarl, Sunset turned around towards the thrower. Unsurprisingly, it was Trixie Lulamoon and a scowl formed on Sunset’s face, as she looked at her smug expression. Trixie had been the one who had trapped her and the Rainbooms under stage before the final round of the Battle and while the Sirens might have fueled everyone’s hypercompetitiveness, that decision had still been her own. The fall through the trapdoor had been deep and it was a minor miracle, that none of them had been hurt in the process. Sunset had never really forgiven Trixie for that.
As such, a familiar anger began to bubble up in Sunset, as she looked the braggart to end all braggarts in the eyes.
“And just what do you want Trixie?” Sunset asked, crossing her arms before her chest.
“You thought you had everyone fooled Sunset Shimmer, but your little Anon-A-Miss blog has revealed your true colours once again.” Trixie declared, in her usual overblown manner “And now the Great and Powerful Trixie, will do what should’ve been done months ago and banish this daemon from Canterlot High!”
“Banish me?” Despite herself, Sunset snorted in amusement “You and what army?”
“The Great and Powerful Trixie doesn’t need an army, Sunset Shimmer.” Trixie took a threatening step towards Sunset “She will kick you out of this school with her own two hands.”
Cheers erupted from the students surrounding Trixie, who practically glow with her own brand of smug pride at the praise. It wasn’t hard to see what had compelled the braggart to put up this ridiculous little act.
Oh well, if Trixie wanted a fight then Sunset was more than happy to vent some frustrations on her.
Shifting into a more stable stance, Sunset scoffed “Pah! We both know that you’re all talk Trixie.” Trixie seemed taken aback a little, by Sunset’s apparent lack of fear. It was understandable, ever since the Fall Formal, Sunset had been nothing if not meek around her former victims and Trixie’s overblown ego had made her one of Sunset’s favorite targets for mockery. The thing was, Sunset actually enjoyed the creative and sometimes downright ingenious tricks, that human stage magicians employed to entertain their audiences. There was just something about Trixie’s constant blowharding about her magical prowess, rubbed Sunset the wrong way.
Maybe it was because Sunset knew actual magic, maybe she just didn’t like Trixie’s face. Either way she was gonna enjoy putting the little braggart in her place, far more than she should. With her lips curving into small, mocking grin, Sunset continued “But, if it makes you feel any better, I’ll give you one free shot,” she demonstratively turned her cheek towards the Trixie “but I have to warn you, if you waste it-”
Without warning, Trixie’s fist collided with Sunset’s cheek, the force of the blow snapping her head back. This actually came as a genuine surprise to Sunset, she had expected a battle of mockery and counter mockery with Trixie. But with an adoring audience at her back, it looked like Trixie was determined to actually make good on her threats for once. The look of triumph in Trixie’s eyes quickly turned to horror though, as Sunset began to chuckle.
“You’re gonna regret it.” She growled, turning her head to look Trixie in the eyes. In a flash she grabbed the wrist, of the still outstretched arm, with her left hand and hooked her right arm under Trixie’s armpit. Turning around she pressed her back against Trixie’s body and pulled. Letting out a high pitched shriek, Trixie went flying over her shoulder and crashed down onto to the floor with a painful thud.
Keeping her vice grip on Trixie’s wrist, Sunset turned towards her followers, daring them to try and come to her aid. Nobody moved to help. They just stood there, watching. At the back of the crowd, Sunset found her next target, a large garbage bin, just the right size to stuff a nerd into. Or in this case, a two-bit magician. Her grin widened and she began to move towards the bin, dragging Trixie along behind her.
“Unhand me! Unhand me, I say!” Trixie shouted as she struggled to free herself, but Sunset’s grip was as tight as a vice.
Sunset just laughed mockingly as she dragged Trixie the last few meters to the bin.
“You should be thrilled, Trixie! Now everyone is watching you!”
“Help!” Trixie shrieked in panic; flopping helplessly on the floor, like a fish on dry land. “Somebody help Trixie! Trixie will be forever thankful!”
Instead of helping though, the other students merely watched; some even recording with their phones.
“You threw me down a hole, Trixie. Let me return the favor.” Tossing away the lid of the trash bin, Sunset chuckled maliciously as she grabbed Trixie around the waist and lifted her up.
“Wait, Sunset Shimmer! Trixie is sorry! The Humble and Apologetic Trixie apologizes! Please! Please don’t do this!” Trixie begged as she saw her garbage filled doom approaching.
Not wasting any further words, Sunset chucked the still shrieking Trixie head first into it. The bin was deep enough to swallow her whole upper body, leaving only her legs to kick uselessly into the air. Sunset took out her phone and snapped a picture to remember this moment. That was definitely one for the album.
“Garbage in,” Sunset tipped the rubbish bin over and it fell to the floor. “Garbage out!” She gave it a kick and sent it rolling down the hallway with Trixie inside.
“Now if you’ll excuse me,” Sunset said with a glance towards Trixie’s less than loyal supporters “I have to get to class.”
Her spirits lifted, Sunset walked off towards her first period.
Sunset winced as she saw Fluttershy in the hallway, the shy girl resolutely turning away from her. Fluttershy had been among the students who had suffered the most during her bullying days, not because she was a threat to her next crown, but because she was an easy target. If Sunset woke up on any given day, feeling even angrier about her situation than usual, then Fluttershy was always a good punching bag to vent her frustrations on. She might not have had her magic anymore, but making that pathetic little human cry and beg for mercy always served as a reminder, that she wasn’t completely powerless in her new form.
‘Sweet sun above, is that really why I did all of this?’ Sunset thought to herself, a wave of disgust rising up in her, as she remembered how much better she had always felt for making others miserable.
But that’s why she had done it, wasn’t it? To make herself feel better about her life. To make herself feel like she still was something, even with no magic, no crown, no nothing to her name. Making Fluttershy miserable, had made her feel better about her exile, for no matter how much life in this world sucked for her, at least she wasn’t Fluttershy.
Sunset groaned at this realisation ‘Heavens, I was pathetic…’
With all that in mind, could she really blame Fluttershy for jumping ship at the first opportunity? From her perspective those pictures being published, seemingly by Sunset, must’ve been like the second coming of Discord; the return of the living nightmare that had plagued her for years.
‘Would I have acted any different in her shoes?’ Sunset didn't even know anymore. Then again, she was planning on leaving CHS to avoid another round as the school’s whipping girl, wasn’t she?
Such were Sunset Shimmer’s thoughts, as she settled down for first period Math with Mr. Cranky. Since there were pretty much guaranteed to be more students, who throw things at her in this class, Sunset opted for the window seat in the last row. This way the cone of fire was limited and easier to observe. As she walked between the rows of other students, she could feel the venomous glares again.
‘Just one week, Sunset.’ She thought to herself ‘Just one week of people giving you dirty looks and trying to beat you up. Again.’
She sighed, silently. It was going to be a long week.
It seemed her fears were ungrounded though, as the lesson proceeded without incident. Mr. Cranky was standing at the front of the class speaking about something or another, Sunset wasn’t really listening and her classmates seemed to content themselves to the occasional venomous look. As such, Sunset relaxed and let her thoughts drift. Her mind was still occupied by Fluttershy and all the torment Sunset had put her through. Why had that girl even put up with her? By all rights, she must’ve hated Sunset for everything she had done and yet Fluttershy had always been there for her after the Formal, with kind words and a comforting presence. Why? Had she honestly believed in Sunset’s change, or had she just done it because Twilight had asked her to?
A paper ball bouncing off her forehead snapped Sunset out of her musings. Mr. Cranky had turned his back to the class, to to write a function on the blackboard and it seemed Fuchsia Blush had taken that as her cue to exact petty revenge, if her smug expression was anything to go by. Sunset thought back. Fuchsia Blush was a member of the fashion club and for the last Spring Fling, Sunset had used some rather risque pictures of Fuchsia and her girlfriend getting intimate in the clubroom, to blackmail her into sabotaging Rarity’s dress. One foot placed in passing on the hem and the manipulated dress had fallen apart, exposing a rather revealing set of lacy, purple underwear. Before her mental eye, Sunset could still see Rarity’s butt jiggling, as she ran out of the gym, her face flaming red. It had been a cruel move, but Rarity had been doing well in the race for the crown, despite her disintegrating friendships at the time. Drastic measure had to be taken and Rarity hadn’t dared to show her face at CHS for two whole weeks afterwards.
Rarity… yeah, with the Spring Fling in mind, it wasn’t hard for Sunset to understand why Rarity would react so harshly, to being publicly humiliated again. Seemingly by Sunset Shimmer no less. Sure, she had said that she had forgiven Sunset for the Spring Fling, but that didn’t mean that the scars weren’t still there, did it?
Again, a paper ball bounced off Sunset’s face, interrupting her thoughts. This time however it was accompanied by a round of giggles. It seemed Fuchsia’s little target practice had attracted an audience. Another paper ball, from a different direction this time. Sunset didn’t even bother to look and just flipped the bird in the general direction the ball had come from. That little show of defiance didn’t seem to sit right with her tormentors however, as a verifiable barrage of paper balls, pens and erasers began to rain down on Sunset. The general commotion however finally got Mr. Cranky’s attention, who turned around with his usual grumpy scowl, just in time to see Fuchsia throw the last paper ball.
“And just what do you think you’re doing there, Miss Blush?” he asked sharply.
“I... uhm….” Fuchsia struggled for words, her pink face quickly turning a bright shade of red.
Mr. Cranky stepped around the teachers desk and towards Fuchsia, his scowl deepening as he spotted all the litter around Sunset.
“Are you completely out of your mind now? What possessed you to act like this towards a fellow student?”
“Oh come on, sir!” A boy in one back rows whined “This is Anon-A-Miss we’re talking about!”
“And if she was Charnel Mansion himself, I’d tell you to knock it off!” Mr. Cranky snapped “I will not tolerate this kind of behavior in my class!” He turned towards Fuchsia again “Miss Blush, since you were the one I saw throwing, you will be the one to clean this mess up! Now.”
Grumbling to herself, Fuchsia rose from her desk and grabbed the broom, leaning in the back corner of the room.
“As for the rest of you,” Mr. Cranky turned his attention to the rest of the class “the next student I see throwing anything at anyone, will spend the rest of the week in detention, are we clear?”
Meek nods all around.
“Good.” Mr. Cranky nodded “Back to the lesson at hand then.”
Sunset blinked, confused, as Mr. Cranky went back to the blackboard. Had that grumpy old hardass actually just defended her?
The rest of the class had gone by without further disruptions, barring the usual dirty looks that everyone, especially Fuchsia, had been sending her way. When the bell finally rang and the rest of the students rushed out of the class, Sunset stayed behind and walked up to the teacher’s desk.
“Yes, Miss Shimmer?” Mr. Cranky asked, wiping away the last equation on the board.
“Thank you.” Sunset said simply “For standing up for me.”
Mr. Cranky turned towards Sunset. "Miss Shimmer, I've been at this school a long time, and I've seen some unbelievable things. Sure, ya turned into a demon, but I had ya in my classes for four years before that. You're the smartest kid at this school. If this was you, they'd never know it."
"Does... that mean, you believe me, sir?" Sunset asked, her voice hopeful.
"It means, I don't believe you've suddenly lost three quarters of your brain." Mr. Cranky answered, with an actual, genuine smile on his face.
With at least one teacher still believing in her, probably Princessipal Celestia’s work, Sunset made her way back to her locker in a good mood. Only for that good mood to utterly evaporate, when she saw the girl waiting for her there.
“Hello, Gilda.” Sunset said, rolling her eyes. She and Gilda used to have a Gentlemen’s Agreement,to stay out of each other’s ways. Gilda not bothering Sunset in her pursuit of more crowns, while Sunset didn’t encroach on Gilda’s lunch money shakedowns. Even after the Formal, Gilda had kept her end of the agreement which had always been suspicious to Sunset.
“Hey there Anon-A-Bitch.” Gilda, who had been leaning against the row of lockers, grinned. People who didn’t know her very well, could’ve mistaken her tone for jovial, but Sunset new better. That was the grin of a shark.
“Please, Gilda. We both know that you don’t actually believe that.” Sunset scoffed and crossed her arms. If Gilda came all the way to seek her out then there was only one explanation: Their truce was off.
“True.” Gilda chuckled “And even if I did, I wouldn’t care. But this is as good an opportunity as any to settle the score between us.”
“Are you still salty, that I kicked your ass all those years ago?” Sunset asked, putting on her most infuriatingly smug grin
“Salty? No. I just don’t like leaving these kinds of things unfinished.” Gilda’s grin fell into a her more typical scowl “If it hadn’t been for those two flunkies of yours, you would’ve been the one lying bleeding on the ground that day.”
Before their truce, Gilda and Sunset had clashed a couple times, with their last confrontation turning into a brawl. Luckily, by that time Sunset had already recruited Snips and Snails into her service and between the three of them, they had managed to beat some sense into Gilda.
“Fine, but before we do this, I have one question.” Sunset said, raising up a finger “You could’ve done this at any time since the Fall Formal and no one would’ve looked at you weird. Why only now?”
“Because…” Were Sunset’s eyes playing tricks on her, or was Gilda blushing? “Because now Dash isn’t hanging out with you anymore.”
“And what does that have to do with anything?” Sunset pressed on, curious as to what had caused that reaction. She couldn’t remember Dash and Gilda ever hanging out, in the four years she had been at CHS.
“Dash and me,” Gilda said slowly, her cheeks now visibly tinged with red “we go way back to Elementary. And since she decided that you were somehow her friend, like the dumbass dweeb she has become, kicking your ass after the Formal would’ve meant going through her first.”
“Heh, never known you to be the sentimental kind.” Sunset gave a snort of amusement.
“I don’t like beating up an old friend, just get to a shitstain like you, Shimmer.“ Gilda’s eyes narrowed dangerously “So I decided bide my time and now, Dashie ain’t here to play the loyal friend for you.”
“More like an old girlfriend, from the way you’re blushing.” Sunset retorted, putting on a mocking grin. Gilda was easy to rile up and tended to makes mistakes when she got angry. That’s how she had lost their first fight. “Tell me, did you give her your virginity?”
In lieu of an answer, Gilda merely growled and stormed towards Sunset, fists clenched.
The fight was on. Sunset dodged a right hook from Gilda, silently thankful for three and a half years, she had spend in a weekly self defense class. Thinking back, she had taken those up directly after her fight with Gilda. The bitch hadn’t been wrong, about how she could’ve been the one bleeding on the ground, Snips and Snails had really come through for her that day. Gilda on the other hand didn’t seem to have improved much and Sunset made sure to needle her about that, as she dodged a swipe from the left.
“You know, maybe if you’d actually trained, instead of gorging yourself on stolen lunch money, your punches might hit a little closer to home.” Retreating backwards, Sunset saw several students lining the hallway, looking at the fight with eager smiles. They had probably been waiting, for CHS’s resident bullies to have an all out fight.
Sunset’s jab at her skill, and weight, had the desired effect on Gilda, as she growled in anger and pressed the attack, steadily driving Sunset backwards. Suddenly, Sunset’s back hit against another row of lockers and she could see triumph lighting up in Gilda’s eyes. Her prey was cornered in a dead end hallway, with no place left to dodge. Or so her anger addled mind would have her believe, as she threw her fist with all her might, aimed squarely at Sunset’s face.
Sunset however had been hoping for that reaction and ducked under Gilda’s fist, too late for her to stop. A sickening cracking noise echoed through the hallway, followed by Gilda’s scream of agony, the girl stumbling back a few steps clutching at her broken hand.
“Ooh, that looks like it hurts a lot.” Sunset said, looking at Gilda with mock concern “Are you alright?”
“I’m fine!” Gilda growled between clenched teeth, swaying unsteadily on her feet, a small trickle of blood seeping between her mangled fingers.
“Good to know.” Sunset chirped, crossing the distance between them. She grabbed Gilda’s head with both hands and with a cheerful “Yoink!” pulled it down, right in the path of her rising knee. Gilda’s nose made a crunching noise, followed by a second scream, as the girl doubled over and fell on her back.
“Oh, was that your nose? That was your nose.” Sunset chuckled blithely “I had worse time, you know? It’s not often, that I have to beat up people, dumb enough to assault me, but there’s always a certain amount of satisfaction, that I get out of doing it.”
Stepping over the defeated girl, Sunset gave her a serious look “If I were you Gilda, I wouldn’t try this again.” She walked a few steps, before looking over her shoulder “Oh and you should probably go to the infirmary and have the Nurse check out those injuries.”
With those final words, Sunset grabbed her books from her locker and marched off towards her next class.
The next two periods ran their course without any major interruptions, ignoring the fact that pretty much every student Sunset encountered, either muttered an insult at her, threw something at her, or glared at her as she passed. And while Sunset had resolved, not to let the petty antagonizations of those mindless peons bother her again...
‘Sweet Celestia, I’m starting to think like the old Me again.’
...the fact of the matter was, that it bothered her all the same. Mostly due to the fact, that deep down, she couldn’t even blame them for hating her.
“Out of my way, Anon-A-Bitch!” A sudden shove to her side, send Sunset careening against a wall.
She could totally blame them however for being a bunch of massive arseholes about the whole thing. No one outside Rainbooms had even been posted about, by Anon-A-Miss. As of yet, anyway. Not that it deterred the large guy who had just shoved her in the middle of the hallway.
“Care to say that to my face, dumbass?” She called out after him.
The guy froze up and turned around. Sunset groaned internally as she recognized him. It was Dumbbell. She had used him in the past, he was good at smashing things up. And he absolutely hated to be called a dumbass.
“The fuck did you just say to me?” He grunted
“I said ‘care to say that to my face, dumbass’. Or are you ears not working right, dumbass?” Provoking Dumbbell further was probably a poor idea, but then again, it was not like apologizing worked on him either. Might as well double down and make him too angry to think straight.
Uncharacteristically for him however, Dumbbell didn’t immediately fly into a howling rage. Instead he calmly walked up to Sunset and grabbed her by the lapel of her leather jacket.
“You think you can still play the tough girl, Shimmer?” He growled, getting uncomfortably close to Sunset.
“No.” Sunset replied blithely “I just stopped pretending to be a soft girl.” And with that, she jerked up her knee, right into Dumbbell’s crotch.
A rather pathetic squeaking noise escaped Dumbbells throat, his hands releasing their hold on Sunset’s jacket. A quick push, send him sprawling on the floor.
“I’m only going to say this once, Dumbbell, so you better listen closely.” Sunset said as she stepped around Dumbbell and raised her foot over his stomach.
“Stay!” She stomped down, causing Dumbbell to groan in pain.
“The fuck!” Another stomp. The onlooking students winced in sympathetic pain.
“Away!” Another stomp. Sunset was wearing flat heeled winter boots on this day, but she fairly certain that this was gonna leave a bruise now.
“From me!” In a way, Sunset could understand why so many bullies enjoyed beating up their victims. Stomping down on Dumbbell’s stomach and hearing to him whimper, had certain cathartic quality to it.
Stepping away from Dumbbell, Sunset leveled a glare at the surrounding students “And I hope you all got that.”
Giving Dumbbell one last, contemptuous sneer, Sunset walked off. There was lunch to be had.
Face like a storm cloud, Sunset Shimmer entered through the large double doors of the cafeteria. Instantly, conversations throughout the room paused and all eyes turned towards her. Sunset ignored them and stepped in line to grab a lunch tray. She wasn’t as angry as she looked; stomping Dumbbell into the dust had been very cathartic, even if it bothered her, that he was the third student she had to beat up in a single day. But she reasoned, that if she looked like she was about to rip someone’s head off, then most of the students present would be too cowardly, to try anything during her lunch. And it seemed to be working, as she made it through the lunch line and towards an unoccupied table at the end of the room without any interruptions.The murderous glares, she kept sending towards everyone who so much as looked at her, turned out to be surprisingly effective. News of what had happened to Trixie and Gilda, had probably spread at this point. Gilda was one of the toughest girls in CHS and nobody wanted to end up in the garbage like Trixie. What happened with Dumbbell only happened like five minutes ago, but it would eventually spread, humiliating him further.
Sunset was not going to start things, but she would damn well finish them. And make everyone involved regret ever messing with her. Of course, the peace the wouldn’t last forever. Sunset had just put her lunch tray away and was on her way out of the cafeteria to spend the rest of the break somewhere away from the rest of the student body, when the door opened, to reveal Lightning Dust.
Lighting Dust was a member of the CHS soccer team and Rainbow Dash’s rival. She was hypercompetitive, always having something to prove and most importantly, liked to dabble in performance enhancing substances. A piece of information, that Sunset had used on numerous occasions, when she needed some additional muscle that Snips and Snails couldn't provide alone. And from the almost Gilda worthy shark grin on Dust’s face, she was about to collect some payback for all that heavy lifting.
“Hey, Sunset.” Lighting said, stepping right into Sunset’s path.
Rolling her eyes, Sunset picked up the pace, marching briskly towards the jock. She had to end this one quickly, she was in no mood right now, to have another brawl. Out of the corner of her eye she could see the excited looks on everyone’s faces, probably already making bets on who would win the fight, as she crossed the last few steps between them.
“Hi Dust.”
Without warning, Sunset clenched her fist and threw a right hook that collided with Lightning Dust’s stomach, just below the ribcage. The onlookers, who had been itching for a showdown, just looked in surprise as Dust doubled over and fell to her knees, her arms clutching her belly.
“Bye Dust.”
Sunset left the lunchroom without looking back. She just needed to endure a few more hours of school. Hopefully, people would wise up and realize that provoking her was hazardous to their health.
An irritated scowl on her face, Sunset trudged towards Principal Celestia’s office. She did not appreciate being called there so close to the end of the school day, especially after the particularly shitty school day she had just suffered through. But a summons from the Princessipal wasn’t easily ignored, and so, Sunset was making her way there, despite her sincerest wishes to go pretty much anywhere else right now. Knocking on the wooden door with the brass name plate, Sunset didn’t wait for a response before entering the room.
“You wanted to see me, Principal?”
Behind her desk, Principal Celestia looked up from the papers she had been pretending to sort through.
“Yes, please have a seat, Miss Shimmer.”
Doing her best to hide her annoyance, Sunset crossed the room and sat down in the chair in front of Celestia’s desk.
“What did you wish to speak to me about?”
“Well…” Celestia looked down at her papers for a second. “I’ve been receiving some rather worrying reports about your behavior throughout the day.”
“Really?” Sunset raised an eyebrow. “My behavior is what’s worrying? I’ve just been trying to stay out of everyone’s way; it’s all the other students who insisted on harassing me the whole day.”
“Yes,” Celestia sighed, shuffling through another set of papers. “I have been hearing a lot of worrying things about that as well and action will be taken, but that is not why I called you. I have called you here because you’ve injured several students in fights today.”
“Yeah and in case you didn’t notice, they injured me too.” Sunset pointed at the bruise on her cheek. Trixie might only punch like a little bitch, but it did it’s work.
“I know,” Celestia replied, making a placating gesture with her hand. “I know and they will all answer for that, but there are still several students in the infirmary because of you, a few of which will probably require further medical attention.”
“Well, whaddya want me to say?” Sunset leaned back in her seat and crossed her arms, her face a mask of indifference. “That I’m sorry? Because I’m not. These students attacked me first. It’s their own fault that they got hurt in the process; no one was forcing them to do this.”
“Be that as it may,” Celestia picked her words carefully. Privately, she didn’t blame Sunset for what she did. Violence wasn’t a good solution towards bullying, but allowing others to brutalize you, wasn’t one either. “The school’s policy on violence is very clear and regardless of how justified it may have been, beating up your fellow students can’t be tolerated. I’m sorry, Sunset, but I’m afraid you will have to serve detention for the rest of the week.”
“WHAT!?” And just like that, Sunset’s mask fell to pieces. She did not care what those mindless peons did, but now Princess… Principal… Celestia was punishing HER for defending herself? Anger bubbled up in her stomach, raging at the unfairness of it.
“Sunset,” Celestia’s voice was gentle, trying to calm the increasingly agitated looking girl. “Sunset, you broke Gilda’s nose.”
“So what!?” Sunset snapped, leaning forward in her chair. “She was about to break my everything!”
“I know, Sunset, I know.” Celestia said calmly. “But you have to realize that I can’t just let you get away with this. Some sort of pro forma punishment needs to be dealt.”
"Why are you taking their side!?" Sunset rose from her chair and glared at Celestia. What was that woman’s problem?
"I'm not taking anyone's side, Sunset,” Celestia tried again to calm her student. “I'm simply enforcing the school policy on fighting."
"But, but... they started it!” Sunset whined. This was just classic Celestia. Always a stickler for rules that no one needed. “How am I the bad guy in this!?"
"They may have started it, but you chose to beat those students up, Sunset," Celestia said sharply. She realized that Sunset had suffered through a bad day, but her stubborn refusal to see reason was beginning to irritate her.
"Well, excuse me for defending myself from bullies, mom!" Sunset shot back, before freezing up as she realized what she had just said.
“Sunset?” Celestia’s voice was soft and she slowly reached out for her shocked-looking student.
“NO!” Sunset yelped and slapped Celestia’s hand aside. “You are not her! You’re not… ugh!” Groaning, Sunset stumbled back a few steps and took a deep breath. “Okay, okay, I’m not doing this again.” She looked up towards Celestia. “I am not going to detention! I am not going to let you punish me for doing the right thing and that’s final!”
With that, Sunset whirled around and stormed out of the office.
Still fuming, Sunset made her way to the school’s exit. First Anon-A-Miss, then the students and now even Celestia had to make her life more miserable and she had enough. She was not going to subject herself to a week of that kind of treatment. And even if she made it through the week, would Anon-A-Miss and the students actually let her get away? Sunset had her doubts that here was a school far enough away, for them not to haunt her there out of sheer spite. There was really only one place she could go to get away from all this. An option Sunset had actively tried not to think about. Equestria. Twilight would no doubt give her asylum if she asked her, the crux of it was with Princess Celestia. Would she still tolerate Sunset in her kingdom?
Arriving in the school’s entry hall, Sunset groaned as she spotted the burly boy waiting for her at the door.
“That’s right Anon-A-Bitch.” Dumbbell said with an ugly grin “It’s time for payback.”
“Ugh, really Dumbass?” Sunset rolled her eyes “Is one kick in the balls not enough for you?”
“I’ll make you pay for that.” Dumbbell growled at the reminder, of his previous humiliation.
“Well come on then!” Sunset scoffed. With all the anger still bubbling in her stomach, beating Dumbbell to a pulp sounded downright therapeutic. ”It’s not like it’ll be your first time getting beaten up by a girl.”
With a snarl, Dumbbell charged fists raised. Ducking out of the way, Sunset let him barrel past her, before whirling around and kicking him in the back of the knee. His leg collapsing under him, Dumbbell fell flat on his face with a dull thud. Pressing her advantage, Sunset kicked him in the side at full force, only for Dumbbell’s arm to wrap itself around her calf.
“Wha-?” Caught of guard, Sunset found her leg pulled out from underneath her and stars dancing before her eyes, as her head collided painfully with the ground.
With a grunt, Dumbbell stood up and turned towards her “And now, to finish you off.”
Drawing on the most ancient and instinctual of pony combat techniques, Sunset reared her legs up and bucked, her feet aimed squarely at the massive bruise on Dumbbell’s stomach. The burly young man let out an surprisingly high pitched squeal and stumbled backwards, giving Sunset the time to scramble to her feet.
“You...bitch…” Dumbbell groaned in between clenched teeth, his arms wrapped around his stomach.
“Well you know,” Sunset shrugs “everyone was so insistent on having me back as one.”
Dumbbell stumbled towards her, swaying slightly with every step and raised his fist again. The kick to the stomach seemed to have taken the wind out of him, as the punch lacked it’s usual force. Now was as good a good opportunity to put Dumbbell out of commission for a while. Dodging backwards, Sunset grabbed Dumbbell by the outstretched wrist and twisted. Dumbbell screamed as his wrist broke and shove from Sunset send him sprawling on his back.
“Who’s lying flat on the ground and has two broken wrists?” Sunset asked with a grin of malice.
“You...stupid...bitch. I only have one-” Dumbbell was cut off when Sunset stomped on his good wrist with her boot, hard. There was a definite crack and the Dumbbell let out a pathetic whine.
“This guy.”
For the second time that week, Sunset collapsed exhausted onto her bed. Out of a long line of bad days she had had at CHS this one had certainly been one of the worst. At least after the Fall Formal, she had always had her friends to back her up. Now though… With a sigh, Sunset rolled off her bed and trudged over to her desk, where her journal was waiting. Grabbing a pen, Sunset opened the book.
“Hey Twilight. I know it’s a bit short notice, but can you open the portal today?” Sunset wrote.
It only took a few minutes for her to receive an answer.
“Hello Sunset.” Twilight replied “I can open the portal for you today. Why? Did something happen?”
“You could say that.” Sunset chuckled slightly “Nothing magical, but…”
“But what?” Twilight inquired “Please, if there’s any way I can help just say so.”
“I’d rather talk to you about this in person, Twilight. It’s kind of a long story to write this all down. Can you open the portal tonight at 10?”
“Of course. I’ll be there, 10 o’clock sharp.”
“Thanks Twilight, I’ll be seeing you then.”
Sunset closed the journal and leaned back in her seat with a sigh. Now all she had to do was pack and… Her eyes drifted towards the computer. If she was gonna leave CHS anyway then she might as well clean house in the process. Booting up the computer, she opened her MyStable Profile. And this way everyone would at least hate her for something she had actually done.
‘To the students of CHS,' Sunset typed, the steady staccato of her rickety old keyboard echoing across the room, ‘over the course of today’s school day, you have made it very clear that you all believe that I am Anon-A-Miss. For the record and in the interest of clarity, I am stating it once more for the especially slow among you: I am not Anon-A-Miss. I did not create that account and I did not make any of those posts. I. Am. Innocent. Alright? Alright. Now that we have that clarification out of the way, let’s get down to business.’
‘Over the last couple months, ever since the Fall Formal, I have done everything in my power to try to make up for my previous actions. I apologized to the students I mistreated, I volunteered to provide whatever help was needed to anyone who asked, I even let you all push me around to help you vent your frustrations. And after I helped in vanquishing the Dazzlings, I thought that my efforts had finally paid off, that everyone had finally accepted the new person I had become. Obviously I was wrong in that assessment.’
Sunset gritted her teeth, as the events of the day flashed through her mind, the taktaktak of the keyboard becoming louder. 'Despite the progress we had made, despite the fact that you all seemed to like the new Sunset, you were still more than eager to have me back as the bad guy.’ The taktaktak grew faster as Sunset’s anger began to boil along with each incident remembered. ‘I’ve had things thrown at me, insults spat in my face and few particularly stupid specimens even tried to beat me up, and all day, not a single one of you seemed to so much as doubt my guilt in this matter!’
But you know what? Fine. If you want the Bad Sunset back so much, you can have her back and choke on it! In this post I’ll include all my old blackmail material, all the stuff that used to make you too afraid of me to even lift a finger in my direction.
This is my gift to you, CHS.
Merry Fucking Christmas
Actually compiling and attaching all of the pictures, sound files and video clips to the post took the better part of an hour, along with preparing an email for Celestia with a copy of it all, but it was finished. Now all it took was the press of a button to send it.
At 9 pm, Sunset arrived at CHS, a duffel bag carrying all the earthly possessions she planned on taking with her, at her side. The hours she had spend preparing had helped her calm down and clear her thoughts. In the end, it was better for everyone if she just returned to Equestria, especially herself. Her outburst in Princessipal Celestia’s office notwithstanding, there was no way she would get around answering for the various beatings she had been doling out, at this point. Not to mention the fact that the way the student body had been acting, there was no way the student’s of CHS would just let her quietly transfer to another school and start her life over.
The post to MyStable was just the final nail in the coffin.
‘Equestria it is.’ Sunset thought as she walked up the school’s entrance. Before she left there was still something she had to do.
Five minutes before 10 pm, Sunset left the school building and locked the door behind her. Rubbing her eyes, she yawned and looked at her clock. Twilight was due any minute now. Sitting down on the steps, Sunset looked towards the portal and waited.
At precisely 10 o’clock to the dot, the surface of the portal rippled and a familiar, lavender skinned girl came tumbling out and landed face first in the snow. Giggling, Sunset rose from her seat and rushed over to help her up.
“Hey Twilight.” Sunset smiled “Thanks for showing up.”
Wiping the snow from her face, Twilight beamed “Of course, Sunset. If a friend calls, I come running.”
Instead of her usual outfit, the portal had decked Twilight out in full on winter gear, with thick snow pants, an enormous padded jacket in addition to a scarf, earmuffs and gloves. The overall impression, was that of an extremely nerdy grape.
“So,” Twilight asked, with an expression of concern and unbridled curiosity “why did you want me to open the portal so late a night?”
“Yeah…” Sunset took a deep breath “Let me start from the beginning…”
It took Sunset the better part of an hour to recount the events of the last few days. Twilight’s concerned expression was quickly replaced with one of outrage at the Rainboom’s sudden renunciation of their friendship, before again being replaced by horror at the harassment Sunset endured during the day.
“And that,” Sunset concluded “is why I called you.”
“And good thing you did!” Twilight exclaimed “This isn’t just a friendship problem, it’s a downright friendship catastrophe! But don’t worry Sunset, we’ll get this mess sorted out! I will-”
“Twilight!” Sunset cut her off “It’s okay.”
“No it’s not!” Came Twilight’s heated response “None of this is okay! None of this should’ve even happened!”
“I know.” Sunset put a calming hand on Twilight’s shoulder “Trust me, I know. But it’s fine, really. I’ve been meaning to come back to Equestria and set things right there anyway. Now it’ll just be a more… extended stay.”
“Maybe…” Twilight looked concerned at her “But still…”
“Please Twilight, this isn’t some magical threat that needs your help to fix.” Sunset pleaded “This is just someone with a grudge against me. Once I’m gone, everything will go back to normal.”
“Are, are you sure Sunset?” Twilight asked, doubt ringing in her voice.
“I am.” Sunset nodded “I… I don’t want to be in this school any longer. I tried everything I could to make up for my mistakes and it didn’t work. It’ll be better for everyone, if I just go away and let them sort out their lives by themselves.”
After a few moments of contemplation, Twilight nodded “Alright, if you’re sure that this is what you want, then I’ll respect your decision.” She perked up slightly “But don’t think I’ll go easy on you.” she playfully punched Sunset’s shoulder “I’ll help you make some true friends and if it’s the last thing I do.”
“Thanks, Twilight.” Sunset chuckled, ”That means a lot to me.”
“Are you ready to leave then?” Twilight asked, eyeing the duffel bag.
“Yeah.” Sunset nodded and pulled out her phone “I have everything I need with me.”
With a few flicks of her fingers, she opened up a few final messages and sent them out. Pocketing her phone again, she shouldered the duffel bag.
“Let’s go.”
And together, they stepped through the portal.