//------------------------------// // Chapter 6 part 2 // Story: Ocean Blues // by TalkingToMyself //------------------------------// The next day at school, everybody was talking about how Anon-A-Miss had suddenly stopped posting, one day after Sunset Shimmer had been seen running out of school in tears. Rumours spread like wildfires. Sunset had left the country, Sunset had been cached in by the school board or the police. One of the seniors joked that maybe Sunset finally done the world a favour and killed herself. Said senior now sat in the nurse office while Blue waited in Principal Celestia’s office. She had been in the hallway when he bragged about how Sunset ‘deserved it’ and all her fuses burnt at once. The next thing she knew was her chemistry teacher pulling her away from a guy with a bloody nose and bruises on his face. The door opened and Vice-Principal Luna walked in. Blue could tell the woman hadn’t slept at all, just like her. She glared at Blue with enough force to incinerate the girl on the spot “Have you lost your mind out there? Isn’t one student in the hospital already enough for you?” Blue snorted and buried her hands in her pockets “He deserved it.” “No doubt about it. But you’re still getting detention for that.” Blue looked up “Only detention?” “At least you realize how lucky you are.” Luna sat down on her sister’s chair with a deep sigh “And yes, I’m going easy on you, because I know this is a troubling situation for you. I can’t pull you out like that again, though. Next time it happens, you’re going down.” “Right. Thanks.” Luna waved dismissively and shook her head “On a more serious note, Sunset Shimmer has been moved from the emergency department to a regular station. Her life is not at risk any more, and there are no complications in her healing so far.” “That’s good.” Luna looked at Blue with some worry “She has not said a word since she woke up yet, but she’s been reading a lot in that old book of hers. Do you know what that’s about?” Blue shrugged “It’s her way of talking with the pony world, that’s all I know. I bet Rarity or Pinkie Pie could tell you more.” “I see.” Luna made a face and shook her head “I do not look forward to talking with them anytime soon.” “What about those other two? Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle?” “That’s why you are here, Ocean Shore.” Blue frowned, Luna didn’t use her full name unless something went seriously wrong. The vice-principal pushed a button on the phone “Raven? Send them in now.” The door opened and Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle walked in. They didn’t look well at all, Sweetie Belle had definitely been crying, none of them looked like they had gotten much sleep. Blue blinked when a third girl followed them into the office, none other than Scootaloo. Luna just sighed and shook her head “How come I am not surprised at all? You’re all in this together, aren’t you?” “Yes Ma’am.” “Be as it is, before I hear your side of this mess, you should know exactly what has happened yesterday. Ocean, please tell them. Don’t leave anything out.” Blue nodded grimly and started talking while staring at the opposite wall. She talked for half an hour and as she knew Luna expected, she didn’t sugar-coat anything. At some point, the three started crying and apologizing, but Blue didn’t look at them and just went on. Once she was finished, Luna told her to leave. She did without another word. Outside, she saw Rarity and Applejack sitting by the door, no doubt waiting for their sisters. Rainbow Dash was pacing up and down, hands balled to fists. Blue ignored them as well. She couldn’t handle it right now. She left the office and found her classroom. Classes just blurred past her. At some point, people started asking her things, but she said nothing the whole day. The teachers left her alone as well. Sometime before lunch break, there was an announcement from Vice-Principal Luna. There would be an important school meeting at noon and everyone had to participate. Blue trotted along with the crowd to the auditorium and found a seat in the back, near the exit, away from any of the Rainbooms. She didn’t care what Luna would say and she didn’t care if or if not Anon-A-Miss was finished now. She looked up when there was a big uproar from everyone else and saw the three skunks standing on the stage, trying their luck with puppy eyes. Luna screamed for silence with a murderous look on her face “How dare you? How dare you put all the blame solely on those three? They might have started it all, but all of you kept feeding them secrets and private information. I have seen the messages and I have all the email addresses and account names. These three will be disciplined according to their deeds, but you are all responsible for the toxicity in our school, for attacks on other students and for Sunset Shimmer nearly taking her own life as a result!” Blue didn’t hear what was said next, even though everybody was silent suddenly. Luna’s voice roared on, but she couldn’t hear a word. The girl next to her started crying, but Blue couldn’t hear it, she only saw the tears. She left and ran home. Nobody stopped her. The next day came and Blue walked into school with her earplugs in, even though she had no music playing. Nobody talked to her, but most of them watched her slump through school. She reported in at the office, and Miss Inkwell told her she had been marked as ‘excused’ for yesterday. If she wanted to leave anytime today, all she had to do was tell her. Blue nodded and tried to thank her, but Miss Inkwell just nodded and sent her off. She reached homeroom and saw that many seats were empty. Miss Cheerilee informed them that today, there would be no classes. Most of the teachers were busy interrogating all the students involved in Anon-A-Miss along with some officers from the cyber department of the Canterlot Police Department. For the others, there would be lessons on cyber bullying as well as talks in groups or individually with teachers and psychologists from the school board. Blue was about to follow the others to the auditorium, but Miss Cheerilee asked her to stay behind. They talked for a while, where Blue mostly listened. Cheerilee offered her help and offered to send Blue home for the rest of the day. Blue declined both. When she joined her class again, they were talking about suicide with a psychologist. He asked them what reasons they thought people had to do something like that, and the others gave meek answers. Fear, desperation, frustration, bullying. Blue listened for a few minutes, but when one of her classmates started crying and wailed on how terrible this all was, she lost her patience “You fucking hypocrite! I saw you laughing your ass off yesterday when some moron joked about how Sunset had been ‘taken care of’, and now you’re crying? You all thought it was hilarious, I saw you all laughing at Sunset. Half of you threw trash or worse at Sunset last week. What about that, huh? You’re telling me that was okay, but now because she nearly died, suddenly it’s not?” Blue stormed out of the classroom, the teacher didn’t stop her, he was busy glaring at the others. She ran into Rarity in one of the hallways. The two girls stared at each other, and Rarity tried to talk first “Hello Ocean, I was wondering, would you happen to have any news on Sunset?” “Why should I tell you?” Blue sneered back and Rarity flinched away from the open hostility “I am concerned of my friend’s well-being, of course.” “Oh? Suddenly you are, huh?” “What? Whatever do you mean, Darling?” Blue jumped forward and grabbed the collar of Rarity’s designer blouse “You didn’t even want to go to her place, instead you ran off. At the hospital, you were more concerned about your sister than about Sunset. You really think I’m going to tell you anything?” “Darling, I assure you that I…” “Don’t call me ‘Darling’. In fact, just shut up and listen.” Blue let go her again and Rarity backed away a few steps, even if she kept eye contact with Blue “I’ve been thinking. Do you know why everybody suddenly thought it was Sunset? That was because you blamed her in front of the whole school. You made her a target.” Rarity looked away, ashamed and scared “I know. Trust me, I’ve come to the same conclusion.” “What did you do with Sweetie Belle?” “What? I did nothing.” “I bet you comforted her when she was bawling at home.” “She is my little sister.” “Yeah, I figured that out.” Blue turned away “Sunset gets tossed away and treated like dirt from a suspicion, but Sweetie Belle is forgiven and forgotten for actually committing all the things you blamed on Sunset. You always act so high and mighty, like you’re better than everyone else. But you’re not a lady, Rarity. You’re a bitch and a hypocrite, just like all the others, if not worse.” Blue just walked off and left Rarity crying on her own. Blue sat in the library on her own. Nobody else was around, but she wouldn’t have noticed anyway as she was lost in her own thoughts. Here I go around treating everyone like dirt. Sure, it felt good to tell Rarity off, but how am I any better? I didn’t throw Sunset in front of the bus maybe, but I just ignored it. She thought of me as a friend and I just left her fight for herself for no good reason. What did I tell her? ‘I don’t want any trouble.’ Yeah, as if I needed Sunset for that. Fuck’s sake, I’m such a coward. And an idiot. And a fucking hypocrite myself. She got up and walked out of the library, back to the classroom from earlier. There was another class inside, but the psychologist recognized her and invited her to stay. She started talking about what she did and most importantly, what she didn’t do. She talked about how that made her feel. Surprisingly many could relate to her, not that it would matter. She didn’t do this for them or herself, she did this for Sunset. She wandered through the hallways and found a few people. She apologized to the guy with the black eye. She told him he deserved it, but she was sorry for beating him up. She found some of the students she had yelled at and apologized, not for what she had said, but for blaming them when she was to blame just as much. They didn’t all agree, but they all accepted her apology. She met Rarity. She told her all she had learned from her sister the other night, who had asked the doctors about Sunset’s state. Rarity thanked her. She ran into Apple Bloom, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle. She walked past them. She stumbled into the girls’ restroom. She heard someone cry and found Fluttershy. Blue sat down next to her. Fluttershy reached out for her hand and Blue took hold of hers. For a while, there was only the sound of two girls crying. Before Blue even realized, it was Friday again. By then, Anon-A-Miss was gone as people now knew who had posted what and when. Every class had at least one leaker, almost all the clubs and teams as well. All computers in school now had restricted access to the net and everyone had to hand in their phones before class. Blue didn’t know what happened to those who had posted something, but she hadn’t heard anything of suspensions. She hadn’t cared to ask what happened to the three girls who had started it all, or even why they did it. Each of the Rainbooms had tried to talk to her multiple times, but Blue kept these conversations short. Without Sunset around, she had barely any reason to hang out with them or anyone else, so she stayed by herself. Just before the end of her last class, Vice-Principal Luna called her into the office. Principal Celestia still hadn’t returned to the school yet and Luna had tried her best to keep everything going, but when Blue walked into her office, she could see that Luna was begging for a break “Take a seat Blue.” The girl sat down and waited as the vice-principal finished typing something on her computer, then shut it down “Sunset Shimmer is finally talking to my sister. It’s still a long way to go, but it’s a start at least.” Blue nodded but with a small smile. Those were good news. “Celestia has informed her of what has happened. Her memory of the day is rather blurry and she was barely conscious for two days after. She has been told everything, but she has not talked about it yet. She refuses to get any visitors, but she asked to talk with you.” “Why me?” Luna looked at her with some concern “I don’t know. Perhaps she wants to thank you since you played a major part in saving her life. Maybe it’s the complete opposite. Maybe she wants to talk to you, since you didn’t witness the Fall Formal or the Battle of the Bands.” Blue rolled her eyes and nodded. There was no telling what Sunset might think right now “I’ll do it.” “I thought you would say that. I’m going to take you to the hospital right away, we’ll inform your sister once we’re there.” Blue nodded and took a deep breath. Oh boy. Luna kept staring at her, looking for something in her eyes “This is a very big responsibility. Sunset might be less than stable at the moment. Can I trust you to be sensible around her?” “Honest answer? Probably not.” Luna chuckled dryly and nodded “I thought you might say that. Anyway, let’s go.” Blue picked up her bag and followed the woman. They reached a room on a different floor of the hospital and Luna knocked on the door. Principal Celestia opened and met them outside “Ocean, Sunset asked to speak with you alone. I respect her wish of course, but if anything happens you feel you can’t or shouldn’t handle by yourself, I trust you to call for us immediately. Is that understood?” Blue stared at the principal. She had rarely seen the woman agitated like that and it almost seemed like she was personally involved into all of this, not just a dutiful principal looking out for her student. Celestia was waiting for an answer, so Blue just nodded “Very well. You may go inside now.” Blue took the handle and walked in. The room was nothing special, just the typical hospital room. There were two beds, but one wasn’t used right now. Sunset lay on the other and had and IV on her right arm, but nothing else hooked up on her. Her arms were covered in thick bandages and her face was fallen in, but at least she wasn’t as pale as Blue had last seen her. She took a step towards the bed and tried her luck with a smile “Yo Red, you look like shit.” “I’m in a hospital. What’s your excuse?” Blue snickered and sat down in the chair that was set up next to the bed “Sarcasm’s coming back, huh? That’s something at least.” Sunset didn’t say anything for a while “I met your sister. She seems nice.” “Yeah, Spring is great. But I’m sure you didn’t call for me to talk about my sister. So how about we cut the bullshit and get to it?” Sunset closed her eyes and waited for another moment, before she looked into Blue’s eyes “Why?” Blue knew exactly what she meant and kept her eyes locked with Sunset’s “Because it would be a terrible waste. Because I would have never forgiven myself for not trying everything I could.” “So you did it for yourself.” “Did you expect anything else from me?” Sunset looked away, but Blue didn’t and kept on talking “I don’t want to see you die, Red. I don’t want to imagine life without you. I would have missed you. So yes, I’m selfish. But so are you!” Sunset shook her head and whispered “Everybody would be better off without me.” “I wouldn’t!” At this Sunset looked back at Blue who had jumped to her feet. Sunset stared at her for a minute with wide open eyes, but then shook her head “One person isn’t enough to…” “Celestia wouldn’t be better off either. She looks like hell and backwards from just worrying with you being alive. Imagine how she would look like if you had done it, Sunset. And you haven’t even seen Luna yet.” Sunset shook her head again, but tears leaked out of her eyes “Miss Cheerilee would have missed you. Mr Vial would miss you. Everyone in your art class. The guys from Sugarcube Corner.” Sunset kept shaking her head but her crying only grew more “Flash Sentry. Vinyl Scratch. Derpy Hooves. They never believed it was you, they would have missed you.” “S-stop…” Sunset begged through her tears, but Blue didn't back down “And your pony princess would have missed you too.” At this point, Sunset fell apart. She sobbed into her hands and cried and screamed as loud as she could “I’m sorry! I’m sorry! I’m sorry!” Blue reached out and grabbed her hands, holding them as Sunset kept crying piteously “It’s not your fault! It’s ours too! It’s Applejack’s fault, it’s Rainbow’s fault, it’s Pinkie’s, Fluttershy’s and Rarity’s fault. And it’s my fault too.” Blue didn’t know if Sunset heard her. It wasn’t really important. She stayed with Sunset as she cried and listened as she sobbed out reasons and explanations that didn’t matter anymore. Celestia must have heard it from outside, because at some point she barged into the room and took a seat on the bed next to Sunset. Blue stared dumbfounded when the principal pulled Sunset into her embrace and Sunset clung on her like a life float “I’m so sorry!” Celestia whispered to her, but Blue felt a hand on her shoulder. Luna stood behind her and gestured for them to leave. Once the door was closed behind them, Luna took a deep breath “Thank you, Ocean. It seems you finally broke through to her.” “I don’t know. I had no idea what I did.” “Sometimes, it is best to follow your guts, as they say.” Luna looked at her, but Blue only shrugged. She didn’t know how she felt right now “In any case, Ocean Shore.” Oh boy, here’s my full name again. “It goes without saying that everything you heard and saw today is strictly confidential.” “Duh.” Luna rolled her eyes but started chuckling, and to her own surprise so did Blue “Very well. I for once am famished. How about we visit the cafeteria now? My treat, certainly.” “Fair warning, I skipped lunch today.” Luna chuckled again “Let me worry about that, Ocean. Now, onwards!” Blue rolled her eyes and followed the vice-principal. Luna drove them home that night and Spring thanked her while Blue already fumbled with the door. They walked through the drafty hallway and Blue just tossed her schoolbag into a corner of her room before she headed to the kitchen. She wasn’t too hungry yet, but her sister came from a double shift, so she fixed some sandwiches while her sister took a shower. The shower was over quickly and Spring Meadow flopped into one of the fold-chairs at the battered table with a towel wrapped around her hair “Warm water out again?” “Afraid so.” “S’okay. Hungry?” Spring pulled the plate towards her and took a big bite, then mumbled past her sandwich “Thanks. It’s good.” “No biggie. We’re out of milk, though.” Spring sighed and nodded “I’m getting my pay check next week.” “I can try if I can get a shift or two at the diner.” “No way!” Spring Meadow pushed the plate aside and fixed her little sister with a stern gaze “Blue, you’ve been through hell and back last week. You need a break.” “Tell that to Sunset.” “Blue, I’m serious! Spring got up and wrapped Blue into a hug. Anybody else who would try that would have Blue’s elbow in their stomach by now, but with her sister, Blue just closed her eyes and let it happen “Blue, you’re not supposed to have this kind of stress. Your Principal told me you’ve been walking through school like a zombie all week. I’m worried, Schwesterherz.” Blue sighed and leaned against her sister “We almost lost her, and it’s my fault.” “Blue, no.” “Shut up! It is. I’m as much as fault as anyone else at school.” “Maybe. But you did something. You went out and saved her.” “Her friends ran out and saved her. I just tagged along.” “That’s not how she told me.” Blue opened her eyes and looked at her sister “Who told you?” “Sunset, of course. She doesn’t remember all of it, but she remembers you.” Blue closed her eyes again and finally hugged her sister back. Her voice didn't sound anything like her suddenly “I couldn’t let it happen again. I couldn’t. I screamed at her. I hurt her when I put on those bandages. But I couldn’t let it happen.” “I know, Blue, I know. Why do you think I’m working so hard to become a nurse? I don’t want to let it happen again either.” Blue nodded and buried her face against her sister “Can I stay with you tonight?” “Of course, Süße.”