I got your text, Rainbow Dash. Did something come from the portal? Is Equestrian magic on the loose? Did Twilight come back with a problem only we can solve?
Well, Sunset, ah was just tellin' Rainbow Dash here that a broken guitar string doesn't really qualify as an emergency.
Date: December 20th
Time: 2:00 pm
Flash Sentry observed the building in front of him with great thought. He knew that the inner area of Canterlot City was run down and a little economically depressed, but this was too sobering to bear. This is where Sunset lived nowadays? If he had already felt sorry for her before, there was no amount of words to describe the sympathy flowing within him now.
The building itself was a rotting husk of faded bricks, chapped cement, and a mixture of rats and mice running to and fro. As he was mentally preparing himself, a hunched figure opened the door and squinted at him. She was middle-aged, wearing a faded green shawl around her red hair, wrinkles that strangely enough accentuated her hazel eyes and pink lips, and a soft-teal shirt and tulle green dress complete with brown loafers. In her callused hands was a broom that had seen better days.
"May I help ye, laddy?" Contrary to her appearance, her demeanor and voice, thick with an Irish accent, was soft and gentle.
"Oh, I'm Flash Sentry." He stammered. "I, uh, I'm visiting a friend. Her name is Sunset Shimmer."
"Flash Sentry, is it?" The woman smiled. "I'm Clover Field. It's a good thing ye came. Someone needs to help that poor girl move out of this rotten building anyway."
The inside of the building certainly matched the exterior. What was even worse was that it was a confined space, so the lingering smell of garbage made Flash's nose crinkle in disgust. Clover Field could only chuckle in amusement before motioning him to follow up some stairs. After about two flights, she stopped before a faded yellow door and reached for her back pocket.
"Um, if you don't mind me asking, why does she need to move out?" Flash timidly asked.
"It's because the landlord's wife, Spoiled Rich, decided to tear down the whole apartment complex so that she could build a sprawling mall." Clover could only reply in disgust. "Filthy Rich agreed with her and decided to move every resident to a new place so that he could get to work." She sighed before leaning in to whisper. "And, truth be told, I don't think she can live in this environment."
"Function?"
"Oh yes." As Clover was fumbling about with the key, she looked at him squarely in the eye. "Just a week ago, I saw her coming into her apartment, almost beaten to a bloody pulp. I tried to call a hospital, but she refused, saying that it was her punishment for every terrible thing she done before." She put the key in the lock. "Before that, I heard her break both her laptop and cellphone with a heavy bang."
"When was that?"
"A week before that."
A week before that? So, then that would place her on the day when she and her friends supposedly had that spat about the dreaded Anon-a-Miss. Flash felt a chill up his spine and a fire in his gut. How could he even remotely think that she would regress back to her ways again? Well, whatever the case, he needed to help her in any way he could. But first, he needed to get her out of this place!
"Sunset dearie, a visitor has come!" Clover called out, a hint of desperateness in her voice. Then, turning to Flash Sentry, a look of indescribable pity was etched in her face. "Please be gentle to her, okay? I know that she has done wrong things in the past. But give her the benefit of the doubt just once, alright?"
Flash only nodded in reply. He was watching her carefully before, given how their class schedules ran parallel to each other. But still, he needed to scope out the situation in order to truly clear Sunset's name. So, with a deep breath, he entered the apartment.
The apartment itself was devoid of any furniture, kitchen utensils or bathroom utilities and for a moment, Flash thought he was pranked as he walked further inside the apartment. However, when he reached the end of the hall, he saw that the door was closed. So, he opened in and sure enough, Sunset was inside. But the state he found Sunset in, along with her bedroom, reeled him into further shock.
The bedroom, if one could call it that, had only a minimal of belongings inside. The bed was nothing but a mattress, a broken computer as well as a broken phone lay askew in one corner of the bedroom, school supplies were thrown in a similar manner without any care save for a familiar leather-bound book, and Sunset herself was sitting in the middle with her back turned to him, occupied in something. Even though it was from a rear view, her clothes were fairly beaten and frayed with tear damage while the majority of her hair was dulled and straightened.
Not good. Not good.
Flash tapped her once on the shoulder, hoping that it would get her attention. When that didn't work, he tried another few taps before clearing his throat awkwardly.
"Hey, Sunset. It's me, Flash."
Still no response. With his fear rising in his chest, Flash gently took the girl by her arms and whirled her around, only to reel back in shock. He had an inkling that she was in bad condition, but he didn't expect this. Her head was covered in two deep gashes that certainly required bandages, judging from the dried blood. Her face was covered in a myriad of bruises, cuts, and even a scratch that came from elongated nails. Her hands, holding a doll that eerily looked like Rainbow Dash, and knees were discolored in a mix of ugly puce and blue bruises. With all of these wounds, it was a miracle that she was still alive, much less coherent.
But that wasn't the biggest shock of them all, oh no. The biggest shock were her eyes. They used to be alert, quick, and on the move. But now, they were dulled to the point where it seemed that she couldn't see anyone except her dolls anymore. Just as Flash absorbed this information, Sunset's eyes blinked before looking up. She squinted, trying to register who was in front of her, before she smiled.
"Oh Flash. Hi. It's a surprise to see you here." Sunset smiled before turning to the Rainbow Dash doll. "Sorry, but Rainbow Dash said that there was an emergency with her broken guitar string. The other girls came with me as well, so..." She trailed off, seemingly lost in her own little world.
Flash leaned slightly to find dolls of Rarity, Applejack, Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy sitting in upright positions. All of them looked to be in great shape, as if a lot of love and care were put into their creation. Flash stared at the creations in abject confusion before shaking his head and sitting down to talk to Sunset.
"Hey, Sunset." He began in what was hopefully a soothing voice. "I see that you've been doing..." Well? Alright? Those were lies, all lies. "...good, I guess." This was awkward. "Um, where were you guys going again?"
Sunset threw him a funny look before smiling once more. "The hallways. Rainbow Dash said that there would be great acoustics there. Of course, the real reason of why we're playing in the hallways is that because the music rooms are closed." She ended with another chuckle. "Isn't that right, Rainbow?" The look-alike stayed silent in all of its felt glory, which Sunset took as a response. Did he have the heart to tell her that it was just a doll? Probably not
"Sunset." Ever since the Battle of the Bands, he'd never been good at talking to either Twilight or Sunset without a slight air of awkwardness underlining the conversation. "Are you sure you're okay?"
"Of course! Why wouldn't I be?"
"Because of the whole..." He hesitated. "...Anon-a-miss ordeal."
"The what?"
"The Anon-a-miss thing at school. You know the one where someone's posting rumors at school and framing you to be the perpetrator. You know that thing." There was no need for him to get into further detail than that, no need to tell her that her friends were the ones to cast her aside, no need for her to relive all those painful memories and him coward that he was not doing a thing, a single thing, to help her.
"That was a thing?" She asked.
"Y-Yeah."
Sunset looked at the dolls sitting in place and asked, "Do you remember a thing called Anon-a-miss?" When the dolls didn't reply, she turned back to Flash. "Sorry, Flash, but none of us remember or even heard of a thing called Anon-a-miss." What? "Is it some new magical threat like the Sirens?" When all that came out of Flash was a shake of his head, she frowned before shrugging. "I guess I'll let Twilight know. Trust me, I'd think I would be the first to know about this thing."
Yes, yes you would...If you were aware of what was going on.
"Yes." His voice was oddly strained. "Yes, Twilight should know about this. Sunset, is it okay if I borrow the journal and be the first to tell her? After that, I want you to come with me."
"Why?"
"I think you should sleep over at my house for some time. Clover Field wants you to be in a much better place than this old apartment, so is that okay?"
Sunset looked confused, but nodded anyway. Flash then took the journal carefully and perused through its contents very carefully. At first, the journal looked to be completely normal but after that..., no, he came to do a job. So, scouring for the cleanest page available, he took out a pen from his backpack and began to write to Twilight while Sunset still played with the dolls.
Dear Twilight,
Hey. It's me, Flash. I know that this is supposed to be from Sunset, but unfortunately we have a bit of a situation here. It seems like everything after Sunset was framed by Anon-a-Miss got worse. I wish I could tell you the full scope of what's been happening, but honestly I don't think I give the situation full justice by just writing it to you. I'm just gonna tell you to meet me at Canterlot High's statue base as soon as this message reaches you. Meanwhile, I'll try to help Sunset as much as I can. See you soon!
Sincerely,
Flash Sentry
An hour later...
Bright Shield looked up from her laptop as soon as she heard footsteps through the threshold. A licensed psychologist by career, she certainly didn't look the part of the professional, being dressed in slacks and everything. Why does this matter? Well, because if your son was hauling a girl who looked to be half-dead, dressing in slacks wouldn't be a problem if there was blood involved.
"Flash! What on Earth-!"
"Later, Mom!" Flash snapped in an unusual manner. "Can we just get Dad on the phone? We have a big emergency on our hands."
A bit miffed by his behavior, Bright Shield nonetheless walked over to the phone and called up her husband, Dr. Purple Heart. A retired Army medic, he had successfully built a career out of being a hospital surgeon and then opening up a general clinic. As soon as she called the office, she took a closer look at the girl Flash brought in and frowned. How long had she been having those wounds? Shouldn't she have gone to a hospital? A few moments of just telling Purple Heart the situation at hand later and then she put down the phone, intending to get Flash to tell her the truth.
"Flash, what on earth is going on? Why didn't you bring her to a hospital?" Her blue eyes turned over to Sunset, who was obliviously playing with her dolls.
"Mom, I need your help." With a deep breath, Flash began to tell the whole day, of what Clover Field told him, of what Sunset was doing, of the Anon-a-Miss situation, everything. When he finished, Bright Shield looked at him in concern before going over to Sunset.
"I'll try to do a psychiatric evaluation on Sunset, so we can figure out her diagnosis from there. However, it seems that there are a lot of factors at play." Bright Shield then looked at her son in sadness. "Poor girl. It's clear that whatever she did in the past, this was too much. I'm just glad that you were able to help her as fast as you could. I hope she can stay with us..."
Flash smiled wearily. "It was no trouble. And it was a good thing you said that. I gotta get Sunset's things out of the car. She needs to stay here as long as she's like this." Then, with a long sad look at Sunset, he thought to himself.
I hope we can bring you back to normal as fast as we can, Sunset.