//------------------------------// // Staying Strong // Story: Like a Phoenix // by Pyro Kittens In Suits //------------------------------// “So what’s up now, Shimmy Sham?” Sunset suppressed her desire to roll her eyes at the nickname, instead choosing to continue with her original discussion topic for the two girls that stood before her. The three of them huddled in the far back of the Canterlot High library, the building proving warmer than talking on the cold steps of the school building. “I need your advice.” “Advice?” Dawn reiterated. “About my friends, or well, former friends I guess.” Sunset said. “The ones that dumped you in the hall and left you to the sharks?” Candy snapped, her face in a light scowl. “So you know then.” “Sorry,” Dawn softly said. “I just kind of told her some of the rumors circling around school, and the fallout between you and the other girls kind of became something of a well known thing.” Sunset sighed deeply. “It’s alright,” She reassured before continuing. “I want to know what the two of you think, about whom this Anon - a - Miss might be. And if we are able to clear my name, what happens afterward.” “Whether you want to let your ex-friends crawl back into your life or not?” “Candy…” Dawn’s voice tried to soothe her irritable friend, whom in turn simply gave a frustrated “humph” before looking away. “Let’s focus on the face behind the Mystable page,” Sunset interjected, already feeling uneasy. “Whoever it is has to have known about Applejack’s old nickname, somehow have gotten access to my phone, and for whatever reason wants to do me in.” “Well if we factor in the first two requirements, we’re stuck at square one considering we don’t know squat all of whom could fit.” Candy said. “Not to mention just looking at the third leaves us with near half the school.” Sunset suppressed a groan, this was going to be harder than she had originally imagined. “The photos were taken at a party, right?” Dawn spoke up, continuing as Sunset nodded. “Well assuming it was a slumber party, all doors were locked for the night and nobody knew where you were considering you weren’t home, it would have to be somebody at the party, right?” “Not to mention,” Candy added. “Unless someone was able to get you to download a virus it is still impossible by today’s means to hack your phone from a distance. The person who got those photos absolutely had to be in the house the time of the party, otherwise they wouldn’t have been able to get in through the locked doors without someone noticing a broken lock.” Sunset’s mind whirled for every suspect at the event, taking out herself, but ultimately unable to completely absolve her former friend’s innocence, there was only one other person that had showed herself that night. “Sweetie Belle!” She exclaimed, afterwards faintly cringing at herself for having yelled in the silent library. “Rarity’s sister, she was the only other person that was at the party save for myself and the five others. She could have sneaked in and uploaded the photos when we we’re all asleep.” “But could she have known about Applejack’s nickname, also?” Dawn asked. “No,” Sunset admitted. “But that doesn’t mean Applejack's younger sister, Apple Bloom couldn’t have.” “But why would the squirts want you out of the picture?” Candy inquired. “Do they have some secret agenda against you for whatever reason?” “I can’t say,” Sunset continued. “But if it wasn’t them, the only other suspects are the other five that were at both parties along with me.” “Wouldn’t put it past them.” Candy muttered under her breath, her nearest companion simply giving her a concerned glare before Sunset spoke up again. “But that leads to the issue that I’ve been dreading,” Sunset sighed. “I have to convince my the former friends of our theory to help clear my name. I need to confront them and tell them it wasn’t me. I desperately want them to believe me, to just take me back as their friend.” Her voice quivered as she talked, causing her to take a deep breath before continuing. “I don’t want to have to return to how I was before. Before the Fall Formal, before the Battle of the Bands, before I really had friends.” “Who says you have to?” Candy said. “Got two volunteers for that position right here.” Reaching over and hooking a arm around Dawn, the two bore sentimental smiles at their new friend. Feeling her own face light up, just enough to smile herself, Sunset wiped at her eyes before pulling the two in a slightly awkwardly positioned embrace. “T-thanks.” “Ah, don’t mention it. Now let’s go do some confronting!” The three exited from their relatively cozy spots in the library, marching through the halls together as Sunset led while her followers encouraged her the whole way. The three being so caught up in their trek, they hadn’t noticed a shorter student peeking her way around the corner, a pink bow placed on her head. ~*~ “Do you want us to go in first?” “Should I push you in?” “Candy, I don’t know if that will help.” “It’s what you tell me to do sometimes when you’re nervous.” “Girls, please, just stay near me, but let me do this on my own.” The bell positioned above the door of the Sweet Shoppe rang it’s chime as the winter cold flooded into the cafe. Three figures quickly rushing into the warmth as they moved to hurriedly close the entryway behind them as they entered. One fiery haired girl moved in front of the others, positioning herself in front of a large table as five other student’s gave irritated glares at the person standing before them. “What is it now, Shimmer?” Rarity was the first to speak. “I’ve already have had a horrific day facing all kinds of snide remarks due to you’re latest blog post on my supposed stolen designs, and I do believe none of us are in the mood to entertain anymore of your lies.” “Just, please, listen to what I have to say.” Sunset spoke, hardening her voice. “I know what you all still believe, but as your former friend, I swear to you I am not this Anon - a - Miss.” “I don’t reckon why we should be believing you.” Applejack cut in. Letting her bag’s worn straps fall from her shoulders, Sunset rummaged through the pouch to pull out a journal emblazoned with a orange sun on the cover. Searching through the worn pages, she singled out a section and layed the text on the table for the five to scan over. “I know you don’t have reason to trust me, I know I’ve done terrible things to you in the past, but please hear me and Princess Twilight out when I said I am not responsible for any of this.” She stared at angered faces with pleading eyes as they drifted from the text to her, as Sunset steeled herself once more before continuing. “Why would I pretend to be your friend and then betray you if all it meant was being subjected to more years of isolation? Why would I be so miserable now if I had gotten what I wanted?” Sunset felt her voice begin to crack, her eyes started to sting as she forced herself to finish her thoughts, as she screamed the question still burning in her mind. “Why won’t any of you believe me?” She screeched before her vision flooded, her cheeks now completely damp with tears as they streaked down her face. She shifted her head down, uselessly trying to rub the onslaught of water out of her view. It may have been the longest moments of Sunset’s life as she waited for any of her prosecutors to give her an answer. Though she realized it must have only been seconds as she felt a hand gently place itself onto her shoulder. Snapping her attention back upwards to see the owner, she only met with Dawn’s sad eyes, the girl offering her a tissue. Taking the cloth with a quietly muttered thanks, she swiftly rubbed her eyes clear and looked back to the table again in hopes of someone speaking up. It broke her heart as she soon realized none of the girls had changed their expressions. While some looked away in contempt, others rolling their eyes and scrunching their faces in irritation, she could still recognize the enraged glare of Rainbow Dash’s eyes pressing into her. “This doesn’t mean anything,” Rainbow said, closing the journal and shoving it back to Sunset, the targeted girl scrambling to catch the book before slowly putting it away for safekeeping. “You could have just told Twilight anything and say it wasn’t you. You used this same fake tears effect when we burned you once at the end of the Fall Formal, there’s no proof that you’re not doing the same thing now.” “You want to say that again?” Sunset soon realized another presence attached itself to her side, as Candy slid into view with a growling tone. “I said with no other suspects, Sunset is still Anon - a - Miss with what she keeps posting on us.” Rainbow called out, slamming the table with her hands as she rose out of her seat, leaning forward to angrily glare. “Yeah, well how about you dimwits look up the definition of trust? Considering your so called friendship runs without it.” “Well that’s quite the accusation,” Applejack joined in the argument, rising out of her own chair to her full height. “When it’s coming from a student from the so called stuck-up Crystal Prep Academy!” “Hah, like I even care about some school rivalry like you jerkwads. Though I have to say, if all that comes out of this Canterlot High is losers like you, than I’m glad to have never set foot in it!” Candy yelled before quickly turning to her two other friends with a quick side note. “No offense.” “None taken.” Dawn dismissed the insult, looking increasingly uncomfortable as Sunset remained silent beside her. “Not to mention, for some school with students as thick headed as you, it’s no wonder the only actual suspects for this Anon - a - Miss is all of you and your sisters!” The agitated girl finally announced, gathering herself a now table full of shocked expressions at the accusation. “W-what?” Rarity stammered as she took her turn to rise. “You best not be accusing my innocent sister, Sweetie Belle in this matter.” “Nor Applebloom, either.” Applejack said, crossing her arms. “Seeing as there isn’t any evidence here on your suspected theories, I don’t think we have anymore reason to be listening to any of you.” “Yeah, well fine then, you can take your dang hoity toity righteousness, and shove it right up your-” Candy’s sentence was soon cut off at the sound of the door’s bell chiming, a now missing space where Sunset once stood left empty as Dawn turned to calling out the door for her to return. All remaining six went quiet, Candy suddenly shifting her attention away from the remaining girls with not so much as a hard stare, grabbing onto her friend’s wrist whisking her away from the door and into the cold winter snow. The cafe returned to a now deathly silence, five girls now staring at the door where their accusers had once been. “That could have gone better.” Fluttershy whispered aside to Pinkie Pie. “Y-yeah.” Pinkie agreed. Their attentions snapped again as the bell chimed for the third time that evening, another trio of girls entering the heavy atmosphere. ~*~ “Sunset, I swear to the gods of shortness if you don’t stop and keep making me run in this snow, I will not be happy.” “Candy, I think Sunset needs to hear something more comforting than that.” “I’ll get to that as soon as we actually manage to find her. Now use your perfectly normal and well adjusted tallness to try and spot her head.” “I’ll try, but you should also be using your adorable and not odd shortness to be able to try and spot her feet then.” ~*~ Sunset should have known it was a bad idea, she should have known there was no way they would have believed her. As her legs yelled at her for the intense workout of running through the mounting snow, she came to a crash as she slipped on the icy bridge running over a small river. She recognized the body of water as the one that streamed near Applejack’s farm, one on the further side of town near the edges of Canterlot. Gripping her hands on the stone railing, and pulling herself up from the freezing ground, Sunset was thankful that nothing but her sore legs cried out in pain. Straightening herself out and finding solid friction on the bridge, she looked over at the icy waters churning below her. The slow but steady flow moving smaller blocks of ice as they floated by beneath her. Her breath hiccuped as she steadied her breathing, focusing her thoughts on the distance of the water below her. The grip she had so tightly on the side supports now slipping as she continued to listen to the siren song of the peaceful river below her, the waterway a complete opposite of how Sunset’s life had been going, and she had honestly been jealous. She wished for the same life of simply swimming along with little care, no one to yell at her, or to demean her or blame her for things she had no part in. She felt herself lifting her body up to scale the railing, the freezing sensation of the stone burning into her hands but she hadn’t hesitated at the feeling. She looked into the cold water as she sat on the edge, sure that if she were to fall it would mean the end. She thought of her former friends, her old mentor, her whole life leading up to that night at the Fall Formal. She felt if she were to fall the memories alone would be enough to anchor her down to the deepest depths. But as the winds suddenly picked up, the icy breeze cutting at her body, she felt the scarf around her neck begin to unravel as she hastily plucked her free hand to hold it close, the warmth tickling at her neck. She remembered meeting Candy, when she threw the gift at Sunset as a simple gesture. She recalled the moments she shared with her and Dawn, eating muffins at the cafe. Or those times she ate lunch together with Dawn and Wallflower, sharing the pastries Ditzy had been so kind to give, sometimes listening to Vinyl Scratch’s music while talking about the odd incident with Gilda and hanging out with Trixie. She remembered talking with Principal Celestia, how she thought she really wanted to try and keep being herself. How much she wanted to keep improving, to keep seeing those nice faces amongst the glares she received, to just look forward to the next day. Sunset stared down at the icy waters. And realized she didn’t want to fall. The silence of the winter night was broken by sudden sobs, as a lone downcast girl carefully set herself down from the edge of a bridge’s edge. Planting her feet onto the icy ground as she cradled herself as she let out all her despair. As she continued to cry, she let out a horrific scream as she held her head in her hands, signaling two other figures to her whereabouts. “Sunset!” They both yelled together, rushing over the panicked girl’s side. “Are you okay?” Dawn asked, holding the girl gently as she continued to weep. The three remained biding the cold for sometime as they gently held onto the wailing girl, trying to soothe her through her breakdown as she proved unable to cleary talk through her hiccuping breaths and waterfall of tears.   On Sunset’s other side, Candy gave a frustrated sigh before piping up. “Maybe it would be better if we took to my place for the night. My Mom will understand once I explain things, and it would give her a chance to calm down.” She turned to the crying Sunset between them. “That sound okay to you?” Her breath still ragged, but able to control her sobbing for a brief pause, Sunset nodded her head. The night was only going to grow colder, and it was now too far of a distance to return to Canterlot High before she froze over from the weather. “Alright, let’s get there before this snow turns into something worse. Lean on us if you have to, okay Sunset?” ~*~ Her breath still hitched occasionally, even as she was now far warmer in Candy’s home. Sunset sniffled again, her knees pressed against her chest as she tugged on the spare set of PJ’s Candy’s sister had graciously lended her. She sat in her friend’s room, having pushed herself into a ball on the bed and now waited for her companions to return. Candy still talking to her family about their newest guest, and Dawn calling her parents to tell them the current situation. Sunset took a deep breath, letting out a sigh as she wiped her eyes for what seemed to be the hundredth time that night. “I still can’t believe I even considered it.” She thought to herself. “Looking back it all seems surreal in a way. All of it, from the cafe to the bridge.” Her mind reeled back to the encounter at the Sweet Shoppe, causing her to flinch at the memory. “They really don’t believe me, huh?” Pulling herself even closer together, almost hoping to be able to disappear within herself, Sunset heard the door slowly open and looked up to see Candy entering. “Feeling better?” She questioned Sunset. “I - I guess.” “Well,” Candy shrugged. “Better than nothing.” As she closed the door with her hip, Sunset realized she carried a glass of water and a plate in her hands. Moving over to her on the bed, Candy set down the cup on her night table and put the dish in front of her. Sunset could see the peanut butter and jelly sandwich carefully constructed for her, as well as the napkin beside it. “Thought you might be a little hungry.” Candy said as she sat across from Sunset. “Sorry if you’re not a fan of PB and J, I’m not the best cook around.” “It’s fine,” Sunset said, opening herself up to retrieve the sandwich, taking nibbles out of the sides. She ate in silence, her eyes never straying from her food as she forced herself to take tiny bites despite her stomach’s uneasy protest. “I don’t know how I’m going to be able to go to school tomorrow.” Sunset admitted after moments of uneasy tension. “Maybe I should just switch schools.” She darkly chuckled. “Crystal Prep isn’t too bad,” Said Candy. “Hate to admit it though, students aren’t much better there than they seem at Canterlot High. Not to mention the uniforms suck when it’s freezing out. Who even decided skirts were acceptable winter attire?” Sunset snickered through a mouth of food, quickly grabbing the napkin to dab at her mouth. “Thought you promised a certain Wallflower Blush to join her club, though.” Candy continued. “Not to mention the paperwork to get into Crystal Prep is a real pain, especially when you live in the library of the rivaling school.” Nearly choking on her dinner, Sunset began to cough as she swiftly reached for the glass of water, washing everything down. “H-how?” She stammered, staring wide eyed at Candy. “Had my suspicions, considering that’s the only place we ever saw you at. Before, during, and after school.” She said, giving off a faintly amused smirk. “Though I hadn’t actually had any proof, until you confirmed my guess just now.” In response, Sunset gave a soft glare at the now slightly smug girl in front of her. “But in all seriousness,” Candy said as she broke from the staring contest. “If you need somewhere to live for awhile, my Mom actually helps run a program for women in need, including a shared roof and food. And I could vouch for you if you need a job reference. And I’m even sure we could manage to find you a home somewhere to sleep if you aren’t comfortable in a shelter, and I guarantee you it would be better than taking up a book fort in the school’s library.” Finishing the rest of her sandwich, Sunset took a second to think to herself before answering. “I’ll consider it.” She said. “All I ask.” Candy replied. The two suddenly turned to the sound of the door opening again, Dawn entering into the room holding her cell phone in her hands. “My parents said it was okay to stay over tonight,” She said, closing the door behind her. “I’ll have to message them that I got to school on time, but considering the circumstances they didn’t argue with me on this.” “Guess we better start getting ready for bed then,” Said Candy, motioning to stand up. “Got Friday classes tomorrow and exams next week. Going to need all the sleep I can get.” Walking over to her drawer and rummaging through the contents, she grabbed an oversized night shirt and tossed another over to Dawn. The two exiting the room to change, as Candy looked back to address Sunset once more. “Bathrooms down the hall if you need it, your clothes should be dry by morning, and no I’m not going to accept any protests of you stealing my room. Dawn and I are plenty used to sleeping on the pull out bed downstairs after movie marathons, so don’t worry about us.” The girl paused in the doorway, at first making to leave before stopping herself to look at Sunset with a concerned glance. “Try not to worry about tomorrow, okay? I promise Dawn will keep you safe the best she can, and you’re far tougher than you give yourself credit for.” With that, Sunset was left to herself again as she placed the now empty dish onto the bedside table. Clearing away any stray crumbs with her hands, she crossed the room grabbing up her backpack and searching inside. Pulling out her beloved journal, holding it tightly to her chest and grabbing a stray pen from her friend’s desk, she made her way back to the bed before opening way to a fresh page and began to write. “Twilight, A lot has happened since I last got the chance to write to you, but I feel like I need someone to talk to, and you’re the person right now that I feel the most comfortable with. So I hope you don’t mind me venting to you a little bit…”