//------------------------------// // Epilogue // Story: Good to be Bad // by Electric Aura //------------------------------// Sunset Shimmer sat in her usual seat at the group's usual lunch table, dropping into the seat with her tray in hand. The rest of the girls joined one by one, each taking their unassigned but silently claimed seat they always did as they chatted. The former pony munched on a salad, along with Fluttershy who was also vegetarian for obvious reasons. She almost laughed out loud at her vegetarianism that she had stuck to her whole time in the human world. When Sunset was a bully, she had been cruel, manipulative, deceptive, and appeared tough in her leather jacket, yet she had still been a vegetarian. Vegetarians weren't inherently weaker or timid, but it was still funny that the big bad bully of Canterlot high wouldn't eat meat. “Hey, earth to Sunset, you there?” A blue hand waved in front of her face, trying to get her attention. “You in there Sunny?” “Huh? Oh, sorry Dash, just thought of something funny.” The fiery-haired girl smiled and gave a small snicker. She noticed the other girls looking at her with various degrees of curiosity and confusion. Her fork stabbed up some of the leafy greens, and she held them up in front of her face, twirling the plastic utensil. “Did you girls ever think about how funny it is that I used to be the big mean bully, but I'm a vegetarian?” She quickly added an addendum to her thought. “Not that vegetarians are weak, just, I mean it's just kinda funny a little meat is my weakness.” The girls all started snickering and giggling, eventually growing into full on laughter across the table. After the laughter had died down, Twilight was the first to speak up as she wiped a tear from her eyes with a smile, mostly looking at Sunset as she did. “Did you miss what I said Sunset? You were pretty spaced out.” Sunset blushed a little, embarrassed she had ignored her friend by zoning out. “Yeah, sorry Twi, what were you saying?” She made sure to keep eye contact with Twilight as she ate, making it a point to show she was paying attention this time. “You've got me this time.” Twilight gave a reassuring smile. “It's okay Sunset, I zone out too sometimes. Anyway, you all know how Shining Armor recently got a promotion yeah? Well now he goes on patrols on his own, no riding along with a senior officer!” The proud smile on her face was unmistakable for anything else, her B.B.B.F.F. was one of the most important people in her life. “That's great Twilight! I'm impressed he already gets to patrol alone, that was a fast promotion!” Sunset smiled, hoping there wasn't any lettuce in her teeth. “Tell him congratulations from me.” “Will do, but that's not the exciting part! I mean, it's kinda scary, but it's exciting too!” She pushed her glasses up her nose. “Last night he got into a chase.” There was a collection of reactions around the table, ranging from Rarity's 'oh my,’ to Rainbow Dash's 'awesome!’ The blood in Sunset's veins ran cold, it couldn't have been. “Oh, r-really? A chase? What happened?” “Yeah! Tell us everything, that sounds so awesome! Did he get into a car chase? Or have to knock out some bad guy?! O-” Applejack's hand covered Dash's mouth, silencing the excited girl. “How ‘bout we let Twilight tell us wha happened Rainbow.” AJ removed her hand to let Rainbow speak. “Oh, right, go ahead Twilight.” Twilight smiled, she didn't usually get to tell a story this cool at lunch. “Last night, Shining was out patrolling around the shops downtown and he found someone vandalizing a brick wall in one of the alleys. It wasn't just any vandal though, it was FLANKSY!” Gasps echoed around the table. Ice blue eyes immediately locked onto Sunset, and she looked back, Rarity staring at her with both worry and suspicion. A silent conversation took place with their eyes alone. 'Please tell me he was mistaken.’ 'Uhm…’ ‘What did you do?!’ ‘What? I got caught, I had to run! I didn't know it was Twilight's brother!’ 'Please tell me you didn't do anything to rash?’ 'Erm…’ Sunset's silent conversation was cut off as Twilight continued on. “He's pretty sure it was Flanksy at least, she was standing next to a freshly painted mural with Flanksy's signature. When he got out of his car to arrest her though, she threw a smoke bomb at his feet and ran!” “A smoke bomb!” Pinkie loudly exclaimed, Applejack's hand clamping over her mouth before she continued. “Sorry.” She mumbled before being allowed to continue. “Does that mean Trixie is Flanksy?” “No, well, probably not, Shiny said she had yellowish skin, definitely not like Trixie.” Twilight shot down the theory. “It was definitely a smoke bomb though.” Rarity shot a look of disbelief at Sunset. 'A smoke bomb?!’ 'I had to get away!’ Rainbow Dash was practically vibrating. “Come on! What happened?!” Twilight finished chewing her bite of food and swallowed. “He chased her into the park across the street and she lept over the wall.” “Ha! Not bad for an artist.” Dash grinned. “Shining followed her, but she dove into a bush before going back over the wall and through a different alley onto another street. He lost her after that, and when he followed the sound of an engine starting, he found her riding away on a motorcycle! She even waved at him as she drove away.” Twilight finished off the story, but Sunset was still on edge. Rainbow started laughing hysterically. “She waved at him?! Ha! No way, she is gutsy!” A small pout grew on Twilight's face. “I was hoping Shiny would catch her and prove himself, but at the same time I really like Flanksy's art. I'm kinda glad she got away, just don't tell Shining that!” “Yes, especially after running from the police. If she had been caught she would have been in even more trouble than if she had let herself be arrested.” Rarity said sharply, her eyes never leaving Sunset. Sunset looked down at her lunch tray, a mix of emotions in the bottom of her stomach. She had not only run from the police, but she had smoke bombed Shining Armor. “Twilight did Shining Armor say if he got a description of Flanksy? Or the bike?” Twilight answered without missing a beat. “Uh huh, he said she looked like she was our age with yellowish skin, but he couldn't see her hair under her hat. And he said the bike was a red sport bike, with an S or a 5 as the first character on the license plate.” She stopped and looked up at Sunset. “Wait, do you think you know Flanksy?” “Something like that.” Sunset mumbled. RIIING! A massive sigh of relief escaped the fiery girl, lunch was over. “See you girls after school!” She quickly dumped her trash and ran out the door of the cafeteria, leaving the others behind. Sunset's friends were gathered around the Wondercolt statue, making plans for the weekend or catching up on homework. Interestingly though, Sunset wasn't present, as she had spent the rest of the day avoiding Rarity and Twilight, who would inevitably ask questions. “Anybody seen Sunny?” Pinkie asked, receiving a chorus of answers in the negative. “Huh.” Twilight lifted her head at the sound of an engine revving, and saw a red sport bike pull up to the stop sign at the exit of the school. It was Sunset's bike, Sunset the girl with pale yellow skin. And when the bike turned onto the street, away from the group, Twilight could see the first character on the license plate was an S. “Sunset?”