//------------------------------// // Six: The Following Day // Story: Her Broken Childhood // by girasol //------------------------------// Twilight squinted, putting an arm over her eyes to shield them from the bright morning light. Sighing, she sat up in bed and glanced towards the small girl at her right, who was still peacefully sleeping. Looking around the room, Twilight noted that Applejack, Pinkie Pie and Rarity were gone. Rainbow Dash was snoring loudly on the floor. “Oh. Good morning Twilight.” The purple girl turned to her right to see her shy yellow friend standing beside the bed. Twilight smiled at her kind friend, “Good morning Fluttershy. How did you sleep?” Fluttershy returned her smile, “Oh, good. Thank you for asking. I was just... worried about her.” Fluttershy turn her head sideways to look towards the sleeping Sunset on the bed. Twilight followed her gaze, “Yeah... I was too. I’m just glad that she didn’t wake up to any more night terrors. Princess Celestia did say that she would have panic attacks and nightmares. But I didn’t think they were this bad... I-I just feel so bad... I didn’t know what to do. She was so scared. But what she was saying... it didn’t seem like nightmares they seemed more like...” “Flashbacks?” The pair finished together as the door to the room slowly creaked open. Twilight and Fluttershy turned their heads towards the door to see their pale friend by the door, already dressed and ready for the day. “Good morning darlings,” Rarity whispered as she put her nightgown back into her bag. “Good morning, Rarity,” Twilight and Fluttershy said. Their pale friend walked towards the bed and glanced towards the red haired girl still sleeping on the bed, “How is she doing?” Twilight sighed, turning towards Sunset, “I think she’s fine right now.” Rarity put her pale hand on Twilight’s left shoulder, “Darling, what’s the matter?” Twilight sighed once more, “It’s just... I still feel bad about last night... she seemed so... broken...” Twilight put her face in her hands. The purple teenager felt another hand on her right shoulder, “Oh Twilight... it’s not your fault. Please, don’t blame yourself. What she’s going through right now.... the best thing we can do is be there for her. You’re doing everything you can.” Fluttershy said with tears brimming her blue eyes. Twilight sighed and embraced Fluttershy, “I know. I just wish I knew how to help her and know what’s going on with her exactly.” The room fell silent before everyone heard a loud yawn coming from the floor. Rainbow Dash stood from the floor and stretched. The sporty girl didn’t seem to notice her three friends staring at her until she turned to leave the room, “Oh, hey guys!” “Good morning Rainbow,” Twilight said before Rainbow Dash grabbed some clothes and some running equipment. “How—uh... what are you doing?” “Just gettin’ my things for my morning run,” the sporty girl raised an eyebrow with a smirk. “Wanna come?” Twilight’s eyes widened, “Run? With you? You’ll leave me behind! And I’m not a very athletic pony—er person.” Rainbow scoffed as she continued to stretch, “Yeah I kinda figured after I totally kicked your butt in our soccer game before—“ Rainbow was cut off by a soft yawn coming from the bed. The red haired girl sat up in bed and looked around the room, looking half asleep. “Oh! Good morning, Sunset!” Twilight said cheerfully. Sunset just yawned again before running her amber hand through her messy bed head and nodding towards Twilight, “Morning.” The door to the room opened up. “Morning y’all! Breakfast is ready if ya wanna come down n’ eat.” Apple Bloom said before racing back down the hall again. Twilight passed Sunset a fresh set of clothes for the day before grabbing her own as they headed towards the bathroom. Sunset and Twilight came downstairs, they found Pinkie Pie flipping pancakes on the stove. She turned to face the group. “Happy Sunday everyone! I made some pancakes with the help of Apple Bloom but I didn’t know if everyone liked pancakes which would be so weird since pancakes are delicious so I made waffles and eggs and bacon and—“ “Okay Pinkie! We get it.” Rainbow Dash said, fresh from coming back from her morning run. Everyone sat down around the dining table as Granny Smith and Pinkie Pie put the freshly made breakfast on the table. As everyone helped themselves to either pancakes or waffles, Sunset frowned at the big meal. She’s eaten haycakes before, but not pancakes or waffles either. Seeing the girl’s confusion, Twilight have her a small smile, “I know these aren’t exactly like haycakes but they are very similar. And waffles are similar to pancakes. Trust me, you’ll like them,” Twilight handed her a small piece of waffle to try and a small piece of pancake to try. The small girl tried the pancake first. She had to admit, Twilight was right. It was similar to haycakes and it was good! She then tried the waffles next. She knew which one she liked better. “Which one do you want Sunset?” Twilight asked her. Sunset pointed to the waffles and Twilight put one on her plate. “Oh yeah!” the rainbow girl said, “Team waffles for life!” She held up her plate of waffles. Sunset furrowed her brows in confusion. There’s teams for pancakes and waffles? Why? Rainbow Dash leaned over the table with her plate close to Sunset’s, “Cheers!” The small girl furrowed her brows again and chocked her head, “Cheers?” “Like this look!” Rainbow Dash bumped her plate against Sunset’s plate. The small girl smiled and bumped her plate against the sporty girl’s plate. After breakfast, the girls pilled into the living room to discuss what they were going to do for the rest of the day. “What if we go to the zoo?” Fluttershy began. Rainbow frowned, “I’m not a big fan of the zoo. No offense Flutters.” “Okay. Maybe next time,” Fluttershy looked down at her lap in defeat. “I’ve got it!” Rarity exclaimed, jumping up from her seat on the couch, “Why don’t we go to the mall?” Rarity blushed in embarrassment when she noticed Sunset looking startled. “Sorry my dear.” “Oooo the mall!” Pinkie bounced up from the floor. “I LOVE THE MALL! Let’s go, lets go, lets go!” Applejack shrugged, “Ahm fine with that. I needa pick up a few things fer Granny.” “Okay.” Fluttershy said, already thinking of the things she could buy her animal friends from the pet shop. Rainbow groaned, “Ugh fine! I needa to go to the music store anyway to fix up my guitar.” Twilight bit her lip, “The mall? I’m not sure if that’s a good idea. There’s going to be a lot of people there and...” Rarity turn to her purple friend, suddenly remembering how panic ridden the young child was, “Oh. I’m sure you’re right darling. Never mind then. I’m sure we can think of somewhere else to spend our time together.” Sunset sniffled, clenching Twilight’s shirt. “Hey what’s wrong Sunset?” Twilight held the girl’s face. Sunset shook her head, “I’m ruining... everything. I’m-I’m stopping you from having fun. You should just leave me.” Twilight shook her head, “No Sunset, you’re not ruining everything. I just... don’t want to do anything that’ll make you uncomfortable.” Sunset nodded her head, “I’ll go to the mall with you.” “Sunset...” Twilight began, “I don’t want you to do things or go places for us that—“ “No,” Sunset sniffled, “I want to go.” Twilight blinked at her, trying to figure out a way to not make her go. She was touched that the girl was willing to do something that would most likely make her uncomfortable in order to make her happy, but she didn’t want to cause any emotional pain on Sunset. But then she noted the determination in her cyan eyes. Finally, Twilight let out breath, “Okay then, lets go to the mall.” Sunset stared out the window of Applejack’s truck. Sunset felt guilty that Twilight had to drag her along to the mall, but she didn’t want to be left alone in the farm house, even though Granny did seem like a nice enough person. Going to the mall means that she’ll be with Twilight. Twilight also told Sunset that there was going to be a lot of people at the mall; that part made her very anxious. Though she was nervous, she was determined to go to the mall, and she was curious about such a place called “the mall.” Rarity in particular was ecstatic, thinking out loud about the the shops they must visit while they were there. Meanwhile, Rainbow just rolled her eyes, not really caring about any of the shops she named besides the music store. “We’re here!” Fluttershy chirped from the passenger’s seat as Applejack parked her truck. As soon as Sunset stepped out of the truck, she immediately wrapped her arms around Twilight’s arm, her nerves suddenly escalating. Rarity’s SUV soon parked in a space a couple of cars away. Three teenagers stepped out with three smaller girls among them. Sunset tense up as she anxiously took a step backwards. She’s never seen two of those girls before, and they were walking right towards her. Twilight noticed the girl’s breathing quicken up. She knelt down to Sunset’s eye level, “Sweetie what’s wrong?” The trembling girl said nothing as she kept her gaze on the pale pink and purple haired girl as well as the orange, magenta haired one. Apple Bloom also noticed the girl’s trembling form. Thinking quickly, she told the girl, “It’s alright Sunset, these are mah friends,” she pointed to the magenta haired girl, “This here’s Scottaloo. And that’s Sweetie Belle. Sweetie Belle’s Rarity’s younger sister.” “Hi Sunset,” the two middle schoolers said in sync, trying their hardest not to stare at the now younger child. Sunset said nothing once more, shifting her eyes left and right to the two middle school girls who seemed baffled by her appearance. The group waited for Sunset to react. Sunset said nothing once more and opted for looking down at her feet. With that response, the group began walking from the parking lot to the entrance of the mall. As the group came closer and closer to the entrance of the mall, Sunset’s breathing began to quicken once more. Once they reached the door, and got to the inside of the mall, the small girl was trembling. Sunset had stopped walking, making her yank Twilight’s arm backwards to where she had stopped. “Sunset?” Twilight asked, making the rest of the group stop, “Sunset what’s wrong? Sunset? Breathe....” But Sunset could not control her breathing, there was so many people walking in and out of the mall. So many people surrounding her. So many people. Too many people. Too many chances of people hurting her. Taking her away. Her eyes became blurry with tears. “Breathe.... Breathe.........” Sunset tried her hardest, but she couldn’t. The small girl whimpered before falling to the floor, putting her knees to chest, covering her face. Twilight extended a hand out to the girl but then hesitated before letting her arm reach her, remembering how her touch affected her panic attack, “Sunset... breathe. Breathe in... breathe out.... breathe in...... breathe out. It was until Sunset started to cry that Twilight finally wrapped her purple arms around the girl. Twilight put her purple hand gently under the girl’s chin. Twilight wilted when she realized that Sunset’s determination from earlier was gone, “Do you want to back to the Apple Farm?” The little girl seemed to tear up even more at the response, “I-I’m sorry.” Twilight shook her head, “Shhh... it’s okay. If you’re not comfortable being here—“ Sunset began to sob harder, “I’m r-ruining everything! I’m-I’m s-sorry!...” Fluttershy knelt down beside Twilight and the small girl, “Sunset,” The small girl looked up at the shy girl, tears still falling from her cyan eyes. “Like we said yesterday. You’re not ruining anything. If you want, we could go somewhere with less people.” Sunset blinked at her, trying to control her own hiccups, “I’m n-not ruining e-everything?” Fluttershy shook her head, “No. And please don’t ever say that you are,” Fluttershy embraced the small girl and ran a hand through her red hair. Sunset girl returned her embrace as her tears began to die down. “Why don’t we go get a bite to eat somewhere?” Twilight asked the group. Pinkie Pie’s eyes lit up with excitement, “Oooo ooooo! Where should we go? Oh! Where do you wanna go Sunset?” The girl thought for a moment, taping one finger to her chin, then smiled. She knew exactly what she wanted to eat. Much to Sunset’s, as well as the rest of the group’s relief, the pizza restaurant was not as packed as it usually was on Sunday afternoons. “Hello! Welcome to The Pizza Palace! Are you all together?” An employee with yellow skin and magenta, orange and gold hair asked cheerfully. “Yeparooni!” Pinkie exclaimed, trying hard to contain her excitement. “Alright, follow me so we can take your order.” The group followed the kind employee to a big, red, private booth. Sunset kept her hand locked to Twilight’s the whole time, hiding behind the purple girl as they walked to the booth. Her cyan eyes went wide as they passed the people enjoying their pizzas in their own booth. Once they got to their booth, Twilight gently nudged Sunset to get to the inside of the booth and went right in after her. “Okay! Are you all ready to order?” “Yeah! Wait what do we want to order?” Pinkie asked the group. “I’m assuming you three would want cheese right?” Rarity asked, pointing towards the two Equestrians and the vegetarian. The three nodded. The pale girl then turned to the CMC, “What do you three want?” “Pepperoni!” The trio exclaimed. “I’m cool with pepperoni,” Rainbow said as she gave Scootaloo a noggie. “So am I,” Applejack said. “Me too! Me too!” The pink girl said. “Alright then. So I guess we’ll order two large pepperonis and one medium cheese?” The fashionista asked the group who nodded in agreement. “Okay! I’ll be right back with your order.” When the employee came back with their order, the group immediately dug into their pizzas. Twilight passed Sunset a cheese slice and she happily took a bite of the pizza. Her eyes went wide and let out a small yelp in surprise when the cheesy pie burned her mouth. The girl dropped the pizza on her plate, “Ouch!” Fluttershy looked towards the small girl, “Oh, Sunset you have to blow on the pizza before you take a bite since it’s really hot,” she handed the girl a glass of water, “Here, this will help.” The red haired girl took the glass from Fluttershy and took a sip of the ice cold water. She nodded to the animal lover once the burning sensation in her mouth died down. ... “Hey do you guys wanna go get some ice cream?” Pie Pie asked the group before shoving the last pepperoni slice in her mouth. “Yeah!” The sporty middle schooler shouted. The purple and pink haired middle schooler gasped, “Oh please?!” “Alright!” The young farmer exclaimed, already excited about tasting her favorite flavor again. “Ice cream?” The pale fashionista frowned. “We just ate and I’m—“ “Oh, come on Rarity!” Her younger sister shouted, furrowing her brows down in anger, “It’s not like we go eat out every day now. Pleeeeease can we get ice cream?” Rainbow Dash turned to her left to nudge Rarity’s shoulder, “Yeah Rars, come on! A little ice cream can’t hurt ya. Right Fluttershy?” The sporty girl asked turning to her right to face her old friend. Fluttershy seemed to shrink in her chair, “Oh my uh... um...” she looked to the rainbow girl who raised her brow, “No, it won’t.” “I’m alright with ice cream,” the blond farmer said turning to her sister on her right. “I am as well,” Twilight said, shrugging her shoulders. “Oooooo! Oooooo! Me too!” The cotten candy girl said waving her hand up in the air. “Uh ain’t you the one who suggested it?” Applejack asked her. Pinkie Pie happily nodded her head, “Yep! And I’m glad I did! You can’t have a pizza party without ice cream! That would be like —gasp— having friends with no sleepovers!” The pink girl looked at Sunset, who has not said anything throughout the whole debate, “Would you like some ice cream, Sunny?” The group watched as the small girl nervously glanced around the table. She turned to Twilight, “Ice cream?” The table furrowed their brows in confusion. Surely she’s had ice cream before right? Maybe it’s called differently in Equestria? No but Twilight knew what ice cream was... Twilight bit her lip, “Ice cream is—“ Pinkie Pie cut her off, “Ice cream is this DELICIOUS cold dessert that tastes supper supper yummy! And if you eat it too fast you get a headache! I know this place that has so many flavors to choose from! I promise it’s supper yummy!” Everyone turned back to look at the small girl who furrowed her brows at the description. She wasn’t too found of getting headaches. But she was curious to see how ice cream tasted, “Okay,” she finally said. Everyone then turned to Rarity, who had a melancholy expression written on her pale face. She was looking towards the small girl who gazed at her with pleading eyes, “Alright, lets go get some ice cream.” The three middle schoolers, as well as the hyper pink girl, all cheered in victory. Sunset did not know what to expect once they got to the ice cream parlor. It was a tad chilly inside but it made sense considering the pink girl said the treat was cold. The CMC, along with Pinkie Pie, ran up to the ice cream counter and immediately began ordering their favorite flavor. The rest on the group walked up to the counter, mentally deciding what flavor they should choose. Sunset, who was still holding Twilight’s hand, did not know what to choose. She also could not see the flavors being displayed inside the counter. Why do they put the ice cream so high up? No kid could see that! She thought angrily to herself. Well, she was smaller than the average six-year-old filly, according to Princess Celestia, so it made sense that when she crossed over to the human world, she would be shorter than the average child of her same age. The small girl tried to tippy toe to see if she can see better. Much to the girl’s disappointment, it didn’t not help her much. Seeing the girl’s struggle, Twilight extended her purple arms towards the girl, “Do you want me to carry you so that you can see the flavors?” The small girl stared at Twilight’s hands then she looked up at Twilight’s face, and back at her hands. She’s never been carried by anyone besides Princess Celestia before. Sunset thought about the debate, considering whether or not to let the purple pony princess hold her. She finally nodded back up at Twilight, deciding to let her hold her in order to see the flavors. The purple girl gently took her in her arms and lifted her so she can see the flavors. The young girl gasped. She had never seen so many colorful flavors in her life! Well, technically she has never seen this cold treat before, period. Twilight smiled as the smaller girl stared at the cold flavors in awe, “What flavor would you like to try?” Sunset looked towards the group to see what flavors they chose. Pinkie Pie chose a pink ice cream, Fluttershy chose an off-white ice cream, Rainbow Dash chose and ice cream that matched her name sake, and Scootaloo followed along in the same. Rarity chose a red-pink ice cream with chunks of cherry in it, Applejack had a yellow orange one, and her younger sister held a chocolate flavor with marshmallows and nuts. Sweetie Belle chose a greenish one with chunks of chocolate. Sunset looked back at the flavors. There was one in particular that caught her eye. It was red with yellow swirls. The girl smiled and pointed to that one. Once the girls found a table with enough seats to fit all ten girls, they happily settled down and began eating their ice cream. Sunset, in particular could not wait to dig into the cone. She carefully licked the cold treat and smiled once she realized that she loved ice cream. She loved the treat so much that she did not care it got all over her mouth, her chin and cheeks. Twilight stopped licking her blackberry ice cream to take a look at the small girl. She couldn’t help but smile. She liked seeing the panic-ridden girl so happy. The other girls were also smiling at the former school bully, who seemed to not have a care in the world as she enjoyed the frosty treat. Fluttershy stood up from her seat and held up her pink Polaroid camera, “Smile!” Click! “Wow!” Twilight exclaimed, examining the device her shy friend was holding up, “Technology here is so advanced!” Fluttershy nodded as she held up the new Polaroid photo, “Yes, and this is considered an older camera. There’s even newer and more modern digital cameras, but I like Polaroids more.” “Ooo!” Pinkie squealed, walking over to Fluttershy, “Let me seeeeee!” Fluttershy put the photo at the center of the table so that everyone can see at once. Sunset was amazed. The device that Fluttershy had was amazing! One click and a multicolor picture comes out! Twilight was also amazed. Back in Equestria, it would take forever to get a photo printed. Here, it only took a couple of seconds! She looked at everyone in the photo. While everyone else was smiling, Sunset was caught off guard and had her eyes wide open, with ice cream all over her face. She laughed as she realized how messy the girl had gotten. Taking a napkin from the table, she offered to clean the amber girl’s face, “Here let me help you.” The purple girl took the smaller girl’s face in her hands and began cleaning up all the ice cream off her face. Twilight was concentrated on wiping the mess off the small girl’s face that she did not notice someone coming up behind her. The fiery haired girl on the other hand, noticed someone coming up behind Twilight. She whimpered as her lip began to quiver, making the purple girl stop. “Twilight?” She heard a familiar voice calling out her name. The purple girl whipped her head around to find herself staring at a blue haired teenaged boy. Twilight felt herself beginning to blush, “Oh...” she let out a nervous giggle. “H-hey Flash,” the purple girl started twisting her hair with her fingers nervously, “Wh-what are you doing here?” The teenage boy also gave a nervous giggle, putting a hand behind his head, “Oh! Heh... I um... uh... I was just stopping by to uh, get-get some... uh...” Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes, trying to keep herself from gaging at the awkward scene, “Ice cream?” “Yeah! Ice cream,” Flash gave Twilight a nervous laugh as he nervously scratched the nape of his neck, “What are you doing here Twilight?” His blue eyes widened as he realized how rude that came out, “Not that I’m bothered by that or anything! I’m just—“ Twilight laughed, “No! It’s fine! I-I didn’t take it that way!” She laughed nervously again, “I’m just here visiting the girls,” she gave him another awkward laugh. Flash smiled, which made Twilight blush, “Oh, well that’s nice that you’re—“ He stopped suddenly when he noticed a very familiar looking red head of hair. The girl had her face turned away from him and was buried into Twilight’s shirt. Noticing his perplexed gaze, Twilight gently nudged the girl off of her shirt, which made girl whimper again as hugged her arm tighter. “Sunset, sweetie, you don’t need to be afraid,” she told the small girl as she swept a red lock of hair behind the girl’s ear, “This is Flash Sentry. He goes to school with the girls.” The girl said nothing in response, she didn’t even move from the spot where she was. She kept her gaze downwards as she trembled. Flash gave the group a puzzled look which they returned with hesitant expressions. He turned back to look at his former girlfriend, who was now a child, “Um, h-hey Sunset,” was all he could manage to say, too bewildered to say anything else. The small girl said nothing once more, but this time, she hesitantly brought her cyan eyes to meet the blue haired boy. Flash tried not to stare at her, but he couldn’t help it. Last time he saw her she was the school bully who—well technically last time he saw her she turned into a raging she-demon that destroyed the front of the school. Not to mention that she also managed to brainwash the entire student body and staff of Canterlot High. The small girl felt intimidated by the older boy’s gaze. She let out a small whimper as she tried to control her breathing. She hid further behind Twilight. Seeing this, the boy immediately averted his stare. He looked to Twilight for an explanation. Twilight sighed, knowing that once again she will have to explain her situation to another person. She turned to the still trembling Sunset, “Sunset, sweetie,” The small girl lifted her head to meet Twilight’s gaze. “Listen, I need to step outside for a bit. But I—“ The pony princess was cut off by the girl’s sudden yelp, “No! I-I wanna stay with you!” Tears began to spill from the trembling girl’s fearful eyes. Twilight sighed, slowly shaking her head, “I’m not going to leave you here alone,” she put a hand under the girl’s face, “You’re going to stay here with the girls. They can watch over you, okay? Fluttershy will be right here next to you,” Twilight knew that besides Princess Celestia and herself, Fluttershy was the only other pony—well person who Sunset trusted, “I’m only going to be outside for a couple of minutes. And then I promise I’ll be back here with you, okay?” Tears were still spilling from the girl’s eyes, “P-promise?” Twilight embraced the girl, “I promise,” the purple girl let go of the embrace to meet Sunset’s eyes “Are you okay with me going?” Even though the girl nodded, Sunset’s cyan eyes were still telling that she was still reluctant in being separated from Twilight. The purple girl smiled, trying to ease the small girl as she slowly got out of her seat, “Good. I’ll be right back Sunset, I promise,” Twilight turned to face Flash and nodded her head in the direction of the door. As soon as Twilight let go of hand, Sunset immediately turned to the animal lover and wrapped her small arms Fluttershy’s yellow arm. Fluttershy began humming as stroked the small girl’s hair, “She’ll be back Sunset, don’t worry.”