//------------------------------// // 5. Falling Apart (Pt. 3) // Story: Sunset's Wonderful Life // by sonicfan05 //------------------------------// Things weren’t so good from the stage area of the party. After that accident caused by Derpy, Sunset, Applejack and a few students helped Derpy out of the hole and was then sent to the nurse’s office by Lyra and Bon Bon. After that, everyone in the area (including Rainbow Dash for a brief moment) helped retrieving one equipment out of a hole at a time. Unfortunately, almost every instrument was wrecked from the accident and the students who owned them was really upset. While this was going on, Sunset was trying to pick a bone with her friend and she was not happy. "I thought you said that you fixed the stage Applejack!" Sunset snapped. Applejack’s nose flared. "It's not mah fault! That so-called helper of yours was the one who did this!" Sunset growled. "What are you talking about!? I didn't send anyone to you!” Her eyes then narrowed. “You’re not making that up are you?" Applejack clenched her teeth in anger. "Are ya callin’ me a liar?" "I never said that!” Sunset responded in frustration. “I was trying to get to the bottom of it!” Applejack’s eyes narrowed. “How do Ah know that yer the one whose lying! It ain’t the first time that yer being a two-faced snake!” Sunset felt a major sting in her chest and her face changed to a pained expression. Applejack immediately regretted for letting her anger get the best of her and tried to apologize. “Sunset… Ah’m--” "SUNNY! WE'VE GOT A PROBLEM!"  Sunset and Applejack immediately spotted Pinkie Pie who ran towards them who had a panicked expression. “What is it Pinkie Pie?” Sunset asked, putting her problem with Applejack aside for the time being. "I gave everyone my Pinkie Famous Cupcakes after I baked them with an assistant,” Pinkie explained in a frantic manner. “And the next thing I know, everyone is having a tummy ache!" Sunset eyes widened in shock. "WHAT!?” She turned towards the snack section at the other side of the room. She watched in horror as most of the party guests were moaning in pain as they were standing, sitting on their chairs or even lying on the floor. Some of their faces turned deep green due to sickness and some even puked either on their plates, trash cans or even on the floor.  Sunset quickly turned back to Pinkie. "Pinkie!? How could you let this happen!?" Sunset demanded. “You didn't used any of the old or spoiled ingredients, did you?" Pinkie frowned deeply, hurt and insulted from Sunset’s question. "No! I would never do that! I made sure I went over the ingredients and measured them properly before I used them! I Pinkie Promise!" Pinkie then crossed her arms and turned away from Sunset. “I don’t know who you sent to me, but having someone give everyone food poisoning isn’t a very funny prank Sunny!” Sunset scowled. “What the heck are you talking about Pinkie?” “I’m talking about some person you sent to assist me in baking Sunset!” Pinkie responded angrily. “What? You too!?” Sunset exclaimed. “I didn’t send anyone to you Pinkie!” Applejack opened her mouth. “And I didn’t send someone to you either Applejack!” Sunset added with angry eyes. Applejack closed her mouth. Before Pinkie could argue further, Rarity barreled into Pinkie and stood in front of Sunset with her mascara running down her cheeks due to her tears. "Sunset!" Rarity sobbed loudly. "My clothes! My beautiful, beautiful clothes were… RU-HO-HO-HO-IIIIIINNNNDDD!" "Rarity, what happened to your outfits?" said Sunset as she held her friend’s shoulders to calm her down. Rarity sniffed as she gave Sunset her exasperated stare. "What happened? What HAPPENED!? I’ll tell you ‘what happened’! I returned to the drama department to finish up and make another set of clothes for the kids, only to find both my finished set and my unused fabrics were eaten by... MOTHS!" Sunset blinked. "Moths? How could there be any moths around this time? It's winter!" Rarity scoffed and glared at Sunset. "Well obviously, that person who watched my clothes sabotaged them! I can't believe you chose such an untrustworthy person to go anywhere near my outfits Sunset!"  Sunset growled out in frustration. "Okay, what is it with you guys accusing me of sending these people to you!” she shouted, startling her friends and everyone else around her. “Let me make myself clear: I. Did. Not. SEND. ANYONE!" Rarity stood there with her stunned expression while Sunset simply glared at her, daring her to say anything else. Suddenly, Twilight ran up to Sunset with a frantic look.  “Sunset!” Sunset let out a tired sigh. “What now?” Twilight took a moment to catch her breath due to all the running. "Sunset... the gifts are gone!"   "WHAT?” Sunset cried as she turned to Twilight “What do you mean they're gone!?" Twilight took a few breathing exercises to keep herself calm before speaking. “I decided to check on the toys after Rarity and I placed them in the school’s storage. But when I entered, the boxes are missing!” “A-are you sure they were placed in the storage?” Sunset asked, silently hoped that maybe Twilight simply overlooked. Twilight shook her head. “I’m one hundread percent sure that’s where we left them! Right Rarity?” Rarity nodded, verifying Twilight's story. Sunset groaned as she kept herself from panicking. This can’t be happening! First the stage accident, then the food poisoning, then ruined clothes and now missing toys! What’s next!? Suddenly, a rainbow blur zipped right through the gym's doors, across the room and then stopped in front of Sunset, revealing a very frantic Rainbow Dash. "Sunset! Scoots and her friends are missing!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed. "WHAT!?" The girls cried. Applejack, Rarity and Twilight immediately went up to Rainbow's face, demanding answers. "Where's mah sister!" “Where’s Sweetie Belle?” “And my dog!?” Rainbow Dash backed away from her frantic friends with both hands raised up in defense. "I-I don't know! I couldn't find them anywhere! I even tried calling Scoots' cell but she didn't pick up!" “M-maybe they took a walk?” Sunset theorized, silently hoping that was the case. Applejack shook her head. “There’s no way that Apple Bloom and her friends would ditch us without tellin’ us! They usually let us know!” "But didn't they go and do a lot of crazy antics many times without telling you before?" Sunset pointed out. "Yes, but they never usually leave in the middle of an important task without reason!" Applejack argued before baring a worried frown. "What if somethin' bad happened to them!" "I'm... sure they'll be fine!" Sunset reassured with an uneasy smile. "Right now, we need to get this party back in--" "Is that all you cared about!?” Rainbow Dash retorted. “This stupid party over finding our sisters? What’s wrong with you dude?” Sunset growled angrily, upset by Rainbow’s accusation. “Hey! I never said those things! Don’t put words into my mouth! I can’t just drop everything and go look for your sibling, even if it was potentially nothing happened to them!” “Well maybe if you do a better job at managing this party and not acting like a jerk, then maybe our sisters will still be here!” Rainbow Dash shouted, not noticing her friends shaking their heads ‘no’ at her. “Friends don’t abandon friends Sunset!” Sunset let out a humorless chuckle. “Oh that’s typical of you Rainbow Dash! Blame it all on me when something goes wrong! Why don’t we blame it all on Sunset Shimmer because she never does anything right or that she is always the bad guy in our eyes!” Rainbow Dash widened her eyes in horror after realizing just how she sounded when accusing Sunset. Rainbow Dash immediately felt guilty for accusing her friend, especially after knowing how stressful her friend was.  “Sunset, I… I didn’t mean anything of that!” said Rainbow Dash. “Well you did!” Sunset retorted angrily. As the girls silently stared at Sunset in uncomfortable silence, Sunset sighed as she placed her head on her right hand. Well… this can't get any worse. As if the world was mocking her, the ground suddenly began to shake. At first, the girls feared that it was an earthquake, but then they heard a commotion coming from outside. As soon as they set their eyes at the gym's doors, they suddenly burst open and all of the animals in all different shapes and sizes stampeded into the room. This caused a lot of party guests to scream and flee from the animals. As the girls stood there in shock, Fluttershy ran into the gym with a worried expression, only to flinched back in fear when Sunset gave her an angry look. "Fluttershy! Why are these animals running around and out of control!?" Sunset demanded. "I-I don't know!" Fluttershy answered in a frantic tone. "Something must have spooked them! I can't get them to calm down!" Sunset growled as she felt her right eye twitching. "Well do something! They're destroying the gymnasium!" Meanwhile, the animals continued to run amok and destroy everything in their paths. The tables and chairs were knocked over and scattered across the room, the food was eaten or stomped over and they even chased after some party guests. During the commotion, Trixie reentered the gym with piles of fireworks in her arms, unaware of all the chaos surrounding her. "Trixie's back with the fireworks!" Trixie announced with a proud grin. Suddenly, a panicked Llama accidentally knocked Trixie over, causing her to tossed her fireworks into the air and landed on the table with a Birthday cake. Unfortunately, that cake was full of lit candles and in the process, the candles light up the fireworks and the fireworks were launched towards the ceiling. Some of them hit at random spots, which ended up causing a fire. The exploding fireworks and fire caused even more of a panic to both the party guests and animals as they all run the area like headless chickens. The girls tensed at the sight of the disaster happening right in front of them, least likely that their party and fundraiser was salvageable at that point. "Fluttershy, anyone! Stop those animals!" Sunset cried! The girls immediately sprung into action. Pinkie distracted the animals by throwing treats at them while Applejack used her lasso to catch as many animals as possible. Rarity used her gem shield to block off the animals escape route and to reach the party guests while Fluttershy gently calmed them down. Rainbow Dash used her super speed to round up as much animals as possible and took them back outside to their fence before rounding up the others her friends caught. And Sunset quickly grabbed a nearby fire extinguisher and put out the fires while Twilight assisted her by using her levitation ability to lift up the punch bowls that was filled with punch and used them to put out the flames. Soon, the fires was put out and the animals returned to their fence, but the party was a disaster. Everything in the area was destroyed and beyond repair. The gym was even worse shape then it was the first time it was destroyed. The guests were scared, upset and angry after going through all of that while the girls were distraught that all of their work was for naught. Sunset however was desperately trying to salvage the party. "Um, don't worry girls… we can still fix this!" said Sunset. "Quick! Let's clean this all up before--" "What's going on in here!?" The girls winced from the sound of an authoritative voice, but it was not from Principal Celestia or Vice Principal Luna. They slowly turned and their eyes widened to see not only Celestia, Luna and Cinch, but also the Mayor of Canterlot City. She wore a dark tan vest over her white dress shirt with collar, long tan pants, teal shoes and teal cravat. She also had long gray hair and half oval glasses on the bridge of her nose. Normally, Mayor Mare is a very kind person who helps out the citizens of her town, tonight however, she had a mixture of anger and displeasure on her face. From the look on her face, she was anything but happy with how the party and festival turned out to be. Sunset Shimmer gulped. "M-Mayor Mare!" she said nervously. "You… you came in early!" Mayor Mare grunted. "I would have come here at a normal time, but my adviser recommended that I should come in early!” She then took a brief look around the room. “Although now I'm having second thoughts about coming here!" Sunset winced at the Mayor’s harsh words. She was afraid that this will happen if things went out of control, and now she is living in an unwakeable nightmare. Principal Celestia stepped forward with a disturbed and anger expression. "What is going on Sunset?" Celestia demanded. "What happened to this place?" Sunset tried to open her mouth to explain herself, to tell Celestia everything from what happened, but she couldn’t. It all happened so fast, she was unable to pinpoint what went wrong. From the ruined stage, the food poisoning, the ruined clothes, the toys, the CMCs and Spike are missing and now the gym was destroyed by animals and fireworks. In the end, Sunset Shimmer craned her neck and let out a resigned sigh. "I… I don't know anymore,” she answered quietly. “There's so much wrong going on that I... can't keep track of everything!" Cinch hummed as she crossed her arms. "So you trusted that student to run the party?" She sneered. "Didn't you tell me how she made plenty of mistakes in the past? Honestly, if I run this school, I made sure to never assigned this girl again!" "This isn't your school Cinch!" Luna growled to Sunset’s defence before Celestia could respond. "Yes she made mistakes in the past, but she's a gifted student and made herself better since then!" "You call this better!?" Mayor Mare interjected with a scowl. "If this was really at her best, then I hate to see her worst!" Once again, Sunset felt her chest stung from the Mayor’s words as everyone else stood there in silence, feeling bleak and hopeless. After what it felt like an eternity, Cinch stepped over to the Mayor. "I think it's high time that we put an end to this party and have the town investigate this school to see if there's any foul play. Don’t you agree Mayor?” Cinch suggested, as she lightly grasped her cobra medallion. Sunset could swear for a moment she thought she saw something glowing from the cobra’s eyes, but probably figured that it was because of the light reflected from the jewels. The Mayor’s glanced at her advisor for a moment before she slowly nodded in agreement. "Yes… I think we all have seen enough!" The Mayor declared as her eyes narrowed at Sunset and the students. "Because of the destruction and ignoring the safety of the kids, I'm afraid I have no choice… but to cancel the festival and shutting down this school until further notice!" “WHAT!?” Everyone gasped in shock! Never in the history of CHS that their school was forced to shut down. Not even during the Battle of the Bands or even during the Fall Formal incident! While this may sound like a good thing that their school is canceled for a day or two, but not for a long period of time! They won’t be able to eventually graduate if their school is on a standstill. And worse of all, this all happened during the Holidays! "Mayor… you can't be serious!" Celestia stammered. "I'm afraid so Celestia,” The Mayor said coldly. “If these kids think they can get away with having a wild party then handling this festival seriously like responsible adults, then they’re clearly mistaken!" “This was just a major misstep Mayor!” said Celestia with pleading eyes. “These students are the most responsible people I’ve ever known. They would never purposely sabotage such an important event like this!” “...well it looks like you are wrong Miss Celestia!” The Mayor responded. “And now they need to find another school that will be more their alley, assuming they’ll be able to enroll another one after this incident!” As she was about to turn and walk away, she was suddenly stopped by Sunset. "Wait! You can't!" She pleaded. "This was just a mistake! Please… give us another chance! If you need to blame someone from this… then blame me! Banned me from this school or this town if you have to! I don’t care! Please don’t ruin everyone’s Christmas and lives because of me!" "I'm sorry Miss Shimmer,” said the Mayor with her back towards her. “But my decision is final! Let's go Miss Cinch!" Cinch gave them a somewhat smug grin before she followed the Mayor out of the gym and closed the doors behind them. Despite the major bombshell from earlier, Principal Celestia tried to assure her students, as well as herself.  “Don’t you worry everyone,” she said soothingly. “The Mayor was having a... stressful time from her earlier meetings. I’m sure we can still convince her to change her mind once she calms down. I’ll go talk to her now.” She gave them her reassuring smile before she headed towards the door, planning to go after the Mayor. Luna sighed heavily. “You kids don't have to be here. We’ll worry about the mess later. Just go home and… have a Merry Christmas.” She gave everyone her last look before she turned and followed her sister out the door. Everyone stood there with miserable expressions, but not as much miserable as Sunset. She felt she has all the blame for letting this happen. And now, the students' lives were ruined because of not one, but two botched parties that she failed to produce. She let everyone down, including her friends.   "I can't believe this!” Pinkie said sadly as her lips trembled. “Our party and festival is... canceled!" She then burst into tears as soon as she said the most forbidden word when it comes to parties. Applejack sighed miserably. "And everythin' we worked hard on was fer nothin'!" “And worst of all… our school is shut down!” Twilight said quietly. “We can’t come here anymore!” “Just because the school is shut down, that doesn’t mean it is closed forever!” said Rainbow Dash “It’s only temporary... right?” Rarity sighed as she sniffed. “I doubt it Darling! We may be forced to apply to a different school that’s available to our majors!” “W-worse of all,” Fluttershy added with tears in her eyes. “Whether we’re a-able to apply to another s-school or not... WE WON’T BE TOGETHER ANYMORE!” Pinkie hugged Fluttershy as they continued to sob, while the rest of the girls just stood feeling depressed. The rest of the school body were also depressed, crying, and tried to comfort one another. Sunset, felt her heart aching in guilt after witnessing her friends’ sadness and the students miserably. This is all my fault! She thought, trying not to break down into tears. Everything that happened to my friends and this school is my fault! How could I let this happen!? All of the sudden, one of the students walked up to Sunset. “What do you mean?” Sunset turned with her confused expression. “What?” “What do you mean when you said, ‘don’t ruin everyone’s Christmas and lives because of me’?” The student repeated before turning to one of the Equestria Girls. “Do any of you girls know something about that?” Time stood still as everyone watched them expectedly. The Equestria Girls, including Sunset felt very uncomfortable at the moment. Not wanting to make things worse for their friend, they tried to come up with excuses. “Um… it was nothing to be concerned about!” Rarity lied. “Y-yeah, Sunset was… having a moment!” Twilight added. Pinkie nodded with a false smile. “Yeah, it’s not like it was because some person who ruined the first party was possibly the same person who ruined this one because of what Sunset did to them in the past!” “PINKIE!” The girls shouted! Pinkie Pie immediately covered her mouth, feeling ashamed for accidentally letting that info slip. “...oops!” Unfortunately the damage has been done as students angrily muttered after what they learned what was to blame or most specifically who was to blame for the cause of ruining two parties and the school's shut down. “So it was Sunset’s fault?” one student asked angrily. “We lost a party all because Sunset did something to that person?” Another student exclaimed. One by one, each student expressed their anger towards the the amber teen. “Why am I not surprised?” “She never changed!” “I don’t care what happens to her, but we all shouldn’t suffer because of her!” “You ruined Christmas!” “It’s better off if you never come here!” Each angry remarks Sunset heard from other students felt like she was being stabbed in the heart from a dagger. She felt more and more in despair and hurt as she continued to listen to everyone giving her mean comments. She tried to cover her ears and block out the barrage of mean comments while keeping herself from crying, but she could still hear them. Worse of all, her friends were just silently standing there, whether they also blame her or not, Sunset wasn’t certain. Things took a turn for the worse when she heard someone say the cruelest thing about her. “Typical Sunset Shimmer! Once a She-Demon, always a She-Demon!” Sunset's mind finally snapped. “ENOUGH!” she roared. Everyone ceased their comments and flinched back from Sunset's loud outburst. Even her friends flinched from her sudden rage, but Sunset no longer cared as she berated everyone who were present. “You all think I was doing this on purpose!?" She screamed. "I tried to set this up, slaved myself all of this... just to give you all this stupid party as my way to give you people back for giving me a chance and finally start fresh! But every single time I’m trying to be good, it wasn’t enough! It was never enough! If all of you were really that ungrateful and judgmental for what I’ve done, even if I’ve done something good or if it was an accident, then… then SCREW ALL OF YOU! YOU ALL DESERVED TO NOT HAVE A PARTY AND LOST YOUR SCHOOL!” Everyone was at a loss for words after Sunset’s outbursts. Everyone stared at her in silence in fear and hurt from her words. Whether they’re ashamed from their actions or not, Sunset paid no attention to them. Her stress and frustrations had finally reached her boiling point. She glared at all of them as if she challenged anyone to try to bad mouthed her again. She barely noticed one of her friends tried to gently touched her shoulder. “S-Sunset,” Applejack stammered. “Ah think maybe you should calm down before ya--” "Don’t you start lecture me AJ!" Sunset snarled, turning around to face a bewildered farmer. “Didn’t you just say to me that I’m a ‘two-time snake’? I admit that I was bad in the past, but I tried to be better and be honest with you! But you seemed to think that I’m nothing but a liar!” Applejack winced from Sunset’s words. "N-now Sunset, Ah… Ah was just--" “I seem to recall,” Sunset added angerily. “That last Christmas, you once said I was family to you before you tossed me away, thinking I’m a cyber bully*, even though I’m telling you the truth! Ironically, it was one of you own family member who did this and yet you forgive them easily! So how do I know that you’re actually the big fat liar? HUH?” Applejack bowed her head. While Sunset’s words hurt her, but she knew it was true. She still felt ashamed from last year after she and her friends accused her for something Sunset did not do. To add salt in the wound, it was from her own kin. And it looks like history almost repeat itself. "Now wait a minute Sunny!” Pinkie Pie spoke up to Applejack’s defense. “You can’t treat Applejack like--" "And you Pinkie!” Sunset growled, nearly scaring her pink friend. “If you actually try to take things more seriously instead of acting like this was all just a game and laugh at every stupid joke, then maybe no one would be puking right now! Or maybe you rather wanted to take my smile away like before?" Pinkie whimpered in sadness as her hair suddenly went straight and flat. “Rarity!” Sunset snapped before the fashionista could speak up. “You may act like you’re a generous soul, but you can also be selfish at times! So why don’t you help out more instead of crying over some stupid clothes that no kids are ever interested in!” Rarity gasped and nearly fainted at that.  “Hey!” Rainbow Dash cried. “That’s enough Sun--” "And you!" Sunset shouted, naring her eyes at the athlete. "You have the nerve and audacity to blame me for your sister’s disappearance, even though that you were supposed to be watching them? That’s sooo like you Dash! Acting so high and mighty like you’re sooo much better than everyone, but really you were being an insensitive jerk and blamed others when something went wrong, especially to me! So maybe instead of being a stupid hothead and pointing fingers at me as always, you should just accept the fact that you are nothing but a major screw up and don’t do anything right! Some loyal friend you are!" Rainbow looked like she just got slapped in the face and her eyes were nearly pooled in tears. Sunset slowly turned her head towards a very scared Fluttershy. "And Fluttershy,” Sunset stated coldly. “...grow a freakin backbone instead of being a scaredy wimp!" Fluttershy began to cry while Pinkie Pie tried to comfort her. "Sunset, enough!" Twilight cried, appalled from how her friend was behaving. "Don't take this out on everyone, including our friends! They tried just as hard as you are to make this happen! You don't treat our friends like that!" Sunset set her angry eyes on Twilight. "Oh, like you're the one to talk Twilight!" she seethed. "Since you're such an expert when it comes to let everyone know your feelings and who you trust the most!" While still upset with Sunset, Twilight was genuinely confused from Sunset's statement. "Sunset… what are you talking about?" Sunset growled. "I know Twilight!" "You know what?" Twilight yelled loudly. "I KNOW THAT TIMBER BROKE UP WITH YOU!" Sunset shouted. Everyone gasped while Twilight had the look of shock on her face. "What!? H-how... how did you know that?" Twilight asked nervously. Sunset's eyes narrowed. "I overheard you talking to Rarity as I was cleaning the school storage earlier today!" As both Twilight and Rarity winced for not being careful with their secret, Sunset continued. "And that you told everyone else about it and wanted them to not say anything to me! Why didn't you tell me that Timber broke up with you!?" For a moment, no one said a word. Sunset stood there impatiently for Twilight's answer, while Twilight feeling nervous and uncomfortable under Sunset's gaze. Finally, after what it seemed like minutes have passed, Twilight spoke. "It wasn't Timber who broke up with me," Twilight said quietly. "I was the one… who broke up with him!" Sunset raised her eyebrows in surprise, but kept her anger expression. "You broke up with him? Why? Why did you break up with him? Why did you tell everyone else about the break up, but not me?" She then had a hurt expression. "Am I not that important to you? Do you not trust me?" "NO! It's not like that at all!" Twilight cried out desperately. "Then why Twilight?" Sunset demanded. "Why are you trying to hide this from me?"  Twilight kept quiet, angering Sunset further. "ANSWER ME!" she shouted. "IT WAS YOU SUNSET!" Twilight screamed with tears in her eyes. "ME AND TIMBER BROKE UP BECAUSE OF YOU!" Twilight gasped and covered her mouth from her sudden outburst, but the damage was done. Sunset anger was immediately wiped away and replaced with a stunned look. Time stood still as everyone watched them anxiously. The whole gym as so tense, you could cut it with a knife. After for what it felt like a minute, Sunset bowed her head and let out a sniff. "I see…" Sunset said quietly. "So I ruined your relationship with Timber…  just like I ruined everything else!" Twilight gasped and tried to reach out to Sunset. "Wait Sunset, that's not what I--" "STOP!” Sunset shouted, causing Twilight to flinch back. “Just stop... okay?" Sunset lifted her head, revealing her face which was soaked from tears. "If that's what you and everyone else feels about me than... I'll just leave before I make everything worse!" While holding back a sob, Sunset quickly turned and ran towards the door.  "Sunset wait!" Twilight cried, but Sunset didn’t listen as she shut the door behind her. As everyone stared at the door, processing of what just happened, Twilight let her tears fall, feeling sad, hurt and regret. "Oh Sunset…" Sometime later, Sunset was hiding in one of the classrooms, crying her eyes out. She felt really guilty for taking her anger out on everyone, especially her friends, hurting them all in the process. She was being unfair to them, even if some of her anger was justified. Worse of all, she was incredibly guilty for not only yelling at her crush, but also the cause of her crush’s breakup.  Sunset didn’t know what she did to ruin the relationship between Twilight and Timber and she spent some time thinking of some possibilities. Perhaps she did something to make Twilight feel uncomfortable after she set up the date for them? Or maybe she somehow made Twilight doubt herself for being a good girlfriend? Whatever the reason, Twilight broke up with Timber and it was all her fault. It was no wonder why Twilight never wanted to tell her. She wished she could take back what she said to her. She wished she could take back what she said to her friends. To everyone at the party, even if the things they said was uncalled for. But she couldn’t. Once again, she acted like a monster.  No, she acted like a She-Demon. It was the Fall Formal incident all over again, except she has no one by her side. She was now all alone. And she has no one to blame, but herself. I ruined it… I ruined everything! Sunset weeped. The party, the festival, my friendship… and Twilight's happiness! I'll could never escape my past! And now my friends hate me! "Feeling down Miss Shimmer?" Sunset jerked up from a sudden sound of a voice from an intruder. She quickly wiped her tears and turned around and frowned angrily when she saw Cinch, standing in front of her with that same calming and cold expression. "You!" Sunset growled with contempt. "W-what do you want?" "Why I don't want anything from you," Cinch replied casually as she adjusted her glasses. "I'm just seeing if you're alright after that marvelous display you did back there! I may not be a teacher anymore, but it is still my duty to check the wellbeing of young students." Sunset's eyes narrowed, not buying Cinch's explanation. "Yeah right! If you're that concerned for your students wellbeing, then you would never made Twilight released the magic from her pendant and have her turned into an unstable creature!" Cinch placed her glasses back on the bridge of her nose and frowned at the teenaged girl. "While I'll admit that it was my fault that I strongly… suggested her to use that magic, but I can assure you that I would never put my former student in that position have I known that it could turned her into that… monster." "Even so, you should have never messed with something that you have no idea what it can do!" Sunset snapped as she crossed her arms. "That magic is very unstable and it could lead to harm if you don't understand it properly!" Cinch cocked an eyebrow. "You mean like how you use that magical crown from another world properly back at the Fall Formal last year and becoming a She-Demon?" Sunset recoiled in shock, shocked that Cinch knew about her past despite Principal Celestia and Vice Principal Luna's efforts to keep the incident hidden from the public. "Or how about that camp counselor who properly used those rocks necklace and becoming a plant monster?" Cinch continued as she took each step towards Sunset. "Or that ex-gofer from the film studio who properly used that mirror and turned into a giant woman? Or that meek plant loving girl who properly used some magical rock to erase people's memories? Need I go on?" Sunset was now panicking. Their worst enemy somehow knew all of their previous incidents that involves Equestrian magic. Her mind was in overdrive as to how that woman knew all of that. Sunset gulped. "How… how did you know all of that?" Cinch smirked. "Let's just say… I've been a big fan of yours Sunset Shimmer!" She took out her phone and showed a collab clips of everything she and her friends have done. From saving someone from turning into creatures, destroying an artifact, or rescuing people from a magical storm. Sunset stared at Cinch's phone with wide eyes. “Yo- you’ve been keeping tabs on us!?” she exclaimed.   “Indeed!" Cinch replied with a somewhat smug look on her face. "I like to keep tabs on certain people, especially from a few people who ruined my life! It's amazing what kind of leverage you find when meeting the right people!" "W-what are you planning to do with these videos?" Sunset asked with dread. “Why I'm planning to share these so that everyone will know what's going on at your school as well as your lives!" She revealed in a pleasing tone. "Once the school board and the town sees this, not even Principal Celestia will help you cover this! This will guarantee ruin everyone including your friends lives once it was out in public." She paused. "Unless…" "Unless… what?" Sunset asked quietly. Cinch crossed her arms. "Unless you leave from this school AND this world… and never return! Only then I can convince the Mayor to change her mind about closing the school and everything will be back to normal." Sunset narrowed her eyes in suspicion. "What's the catch?" "There's no catch," said Cinch as she tapped her chin. "Well… maybe not for you. I will also convince Celestia to let me run her school sixty percent of the school and run it however I see fit!" Sunset growled in anger. She couldn't believe that formal Principal of Crystal Prep to not only somehow recording everything she and her friends lives with magic so that Cinch can use it to blackmail her to leave this world, but also use it to gain control of Canterlot High. All of this just to get back at her and her friends for calling her out on her misdeeds back from Friendship Games. Sunset have never hated anyone so much in her life. "You're crazy!" Sunset exclaimed. "There's no way that Celestia or anyone at CHS would ever agree to let you run our school after the way you run your former school! And even if I'm crazy enough to agree to your terms, then how do I know you'll honor your deal, especially after what you did to Twilight?" Cinch stroked her chin with her finger as if she was having a deep thought, but Sunset could tell that Cinch was just mocking her. "You made excellent point Miss Shimmer," Cinch responded nonchalantly. "I suppose you have every right to not trust me since we were on opposite sides last time." She placed her hands as well as her phone behind her back. "But then again, how do you know that things will ever be right again? After all, it was your fault for not only for letting everything wrong tonight, but also bringing your… "magic" into our domain and letting some hooligan using magic like it was some toy! You dare preached me about responsibility when you originally come here as an irresponsible, spoiled child who thinks she can make a difference and not understanding the consequences!" "I'm not that person anymore!" Sunset shouted. Cinch raised her eyebrow. "Did your friends think you changed, especially after the way you chewed them out earlier?" Sunset tried to speak out, proving Cinch wrong. But she didn't. Her memories of how she treated her friends and everyone else after her breakdown was still fresh on her mind. She felt deeply ashamed for the way she treated them, especially to Twilight. She was now having doubts about herself. Was she never really changed since the Fall Formal? Is she still friends with them? Are they even friends at all? "I thought so," Cinch said with a humph. "Anyway, since our discussion is over and that I still have work to do, I'll let you sit on my "offer" for a while. You have until midnight tonight to think about it! If you don't have an answer or refused, well… let's just say... you won't be having a very happy holiday!" With that, Cinch turned and walked away from Sunset, all while hiding her victorious smirk from a distraught teenager. Now all alone, Sunset felt more worthless and defeated than she was before. The party and the festival was ruined, the school is now shut down until further notice, she lost her friends including her crush, and now Cinch is blackmailing her to leave this world or else she'll ruined her friends lives. Tears were leaking from her eyes again as she felt more alone and have no one to turn to. She can't go back to her friends for obvious reasons, she can't go back to Equestria without having Princess Twilight barrage her with questions due to her emotional state and she can't go back to her apartment in case if her friends are looking for her; assuming if they want to find her.  No one wanted to have anything to do with her anymore. With her cheeks still soaked from her tears, she looked up and gazed at the windows. There was only one place where she could go. And the one place where she will be gone… permanently.