//------------------------------//
// CHS Intermission 1 
// Story: A Third Chance to Find a Family 
// by kitkataddel 
//------------------------------//


~SCOOTALOO~


"Wha's gotten in to ya, Scoots?"

"Yeah, you really wanted this yesterday!"

Looking up, I saw my two closest friends staring at me in concern. We were looking through the emails we had recieved for the account, when I had made my statement.

"I'm not doing this anymore."

"I'm not. This is already going too far. If you two want to continue this, go ahead but I'm just not." With my point made, I walked with my typical stumble out of the libary, leaving my compainions in shock. 'I'm sorry. I just... I'm sorry...'


~VICE-PRINCIPAL LUNA~


"Why would Twilight Velvet take her in? Sunset Shimmer is nothing but a deceptive bully!"

Back then, I was watching what must have been my sister's fifth rant since the hospital had informed her that Sunset had been in an incident. Now she was slumped at her desk, with a very, very guilty look on her face. She had been talking with Velvet, or rather listening to what she had to say. So far, she had been holding the phone to her ear for five minutes without saying a word, a very guilt look on her face. I retired to my office after another two minutes, as it seemed I would not be needed any more, but only minutes later I was called back. Celestia was sitting there, staring gravely at a screen. 

"We've made a serious mistake Luna."

"Let me guess: Sunset's innocent." Seeing my sister's questioning gaze, I answered her question before she asked it. "I was roughly in her position once. I took it too far though."

"No. Sunset took it further than that." 

She swiveled the screen around so I could see it. It was titled 'Sunset Shimmer' had been marked by the Canterlot hospital. I skimmed through the text, picking out a few words. they included "Suicide" and "homeless". Taking a step back, I made a semi-surprised gasp. When I had to make a choice like that, I never saw good reason to take myself. I only started it, Sunset had actually tried to finish it. Still...

"I hate to say it, but I sort of expected this. Not to this extent though. This is actually ridiculous."

"What do you mean you expected it?!" Celestia almost erupted into a deeply upset fury. I kept my cool.

"Remember, I was in her position. I understand it better than most, and that sometimes, you can't stop it. If I had known she was homeless, I would have spoken to her myself earlier. You must remember that I told you it was not Sunset, and we should talk to her. You then rejected it as ridiculous, claiming that it must be her, and no one else." I hadn't moved an inch since I read the report.. I needed to make a point, and this was how I was going to do it. As simply and as sternly as I cold, I walked out of the office, into mine, and locked the door. This was how I was going to resolve this. Not by sulking for another person. By standing up for them.


~???~


"There they are! Those seven! I mean six! Oh now, wait, there's only five. Did I miss something?" A high pitched voice squeaks in my left ear, though there is no living being to my left. Her name was... is Screw-sphere. Or was it ball? She's there now, as she always will be. She used to be something else, and I long for that time once more. But I don't know if that time will ever come. I look to what it- she's talking about. And she's right. There are only five of them. The two missing are those I yearned for. I am over one of them, but they may not be seen again. Screw-something used to be the other, with two S's to her name. She went once, and then returned. Then, yet again, she is gone.

I return to my home, I hear my mother return home, calling to my sister, who makes excuses to speak tomorrow. I wonder if she will actually believe those excuses, or if sister will do as she said she would. The doctor who I call my mother tells me I will have to see a comrade of hers soon. She calls her a psychiatrist. I have not been to one before. It will, 'help heal me', so my mother says.

"Wow! She didn't keep her promise! That's rude!" I see my sister with two others, the others emit a poison, a cancer to spread throughout. They have decided the only verdict is vengance, a vendetta against the falsely accused. The one I wait for, and the Screw-person knows it. My sibling is shy, unlike her normal self. The contrast is remarkable from yesterday. I don't know what has happened to her, but now she is more like me, more... how did they put it? "Insane." Yes, thank you.

There is another group, one who helps comforts me, bolsters my patience. It encourages me to have faith, and for that I am thankful. But there is one amongst them. She can't understand her. "She begins with a M, ends with a N, but is a D and a Y. Waitwait-nonononono-what?!" It... doesn't make sense. It's all Screwball (it's definately 'ball') will tell me, or herself.

Then, my gaze looks back to those I first saw. And she says it again. They cause a cycle, one they have created. And I have tried to break it. And failed. But three of them are guilty, and they do not know it. I dislike them. Then there are two other. One is sad, shy, but she is taking it head on. The other is reclusive. They have swapped their places