Please be okay, please be okay, please be okay... Twilight rushed out the door, following Rainbow Dash as she lead her down the hall and up the stairs.
As she got closer to the library, she could hear crying and labored panting. Twilight frantically pushed the door to the library open and zoomed over to where she heard the haunting screams coming from.
Twilight rounded the corner of the bookshelf to find a sickly looking Sunset being held by a panicked Rarity. The purple teenager gasped as she ran over to the pair, “Sunset? Sunset can you hear me?” She turned to look at Rarity, “What ha—“
Sunset gave out an ear-piercing shriek, causing the teenagers to cover their ears. Twilight tried to call for her again but the frail child did not hear a word she was saying.
“What do we do?” Rainbow yelled over Sunset’s screams.
“I-I—“ Twilight chocked back a gasp as she saw the new black veins on the girl’s arms and collarbone. She’s getting worse... Sweet Celestia she’s getting worse... I need to tell Princess Celestia... “Sunset? Honey it’s okay... just breathe... just—“
The frail child cut Twilight off with another harrowing screech, making the teenagers cover their ears once more. Sunset then stopped, her breathing was still heavy. She shut her eyes to slowly trying to catch and steady her breath.
“Sunset?” Twilight called, “Are you alright?”
Sunset didn’t answer for a while. She opened up her bloodshot eyes and stared up at the white ceiling, blinking very so often.
“Sunset?” Twilight tried again.
This time, Sunset turned her bloodshot eyes towards Twilight, “W-what’s wrong with me?”
Twilight froze. The girl has asked this question before and Twilight could never giver her the answer. Twilight still didn’t know, and guilt seemed to creep inside of her every time Sunset asked that question. But what is wrong with her? Did the elements cause this? No, they would do that... unless that’s how they wanted to punish her for stealing the Element of Magic. They turned Discord to stone, Luna was banished... I need to get to Princess Celestia. She’ll know what’s wrong... She’ll know what to do for sure... Twilight lowered her head, not wanting to meet the broken girl’s eyes, “I... I don’t know honey.”
Sunset sniffled at the response and looked back up at the celling. What’s wrong with me? Twilight still doesn’t know... will she ever know? I just want this to be over...
Twilight sighed, “Come on, we should get going,” she gently lifted Sunset off the ground and stood up.
Rarity grabbed Sunset’s sweater while Rainbow grabbed her backpack.
Just as Rainbow was about to sling the brown backpack over her shoulder, Sunset let out a small almost whimper-like sound as she staggered towards the rainbow haired teen.
“What’s up squirt?” Rainbow asked, trying to guess what the younger girl wanted.
Sunset briefly glanced at the sporty girl before shifting her eyes over to her brown backpack.
Rainbow quickly understood what the girl wanted and handed the backpack to the the small child. Sunset happily took it, pulled her Phoenix plush out of the bag, and slipped her backpack over her shoulders.
Rainbow smiled at her, amused at how she suddenly noticed how oversized the brown backpack really was for the red haired girl.
Twilight extended her hand out towards Sunset as the girl came back towards her. All three teenagers, along with the small red haired girl, headed out the tall library doors.
As they walked down the hall, Sunset once again observed the inside of the building. The walls were covered in posters, alerting the students of the different events and clubs going on at the high school.
Her curiosity about the strange school only grew when they passed by doors with small windows on them. She made an educated guess that they were classrooms, judging by the fact that many of them had names of certain subjects next to the doors. The school isn’t as big as the one in Canterlot, as far as she could tell, but it was still big. How did everyone find their way around the building?
Twilight lead the group downstairs to Principal Celestia’s office. When they arrived, Twilight paused before knocking at the door.
Twilight knelt towards Sunset, “I’ll be right back Sunset. Stay with them okay?” Twilight told the girl, who slowly nodded.
The purple teen knocked on the glass. After hearing a muffled ‘enter,’ Twilight slipped through the door.
Sunset whimpered and got behind Rainbow and Rarity.
“Don’t worry darling,” Rarity said, running her pale hand through Sunset’s red hair, “She won’t be long.
Sunset looked up at her and nodded. She turned around to face the opposite wall. She then noticed three pictures of the same girl wearing a crown. Sunset cocked her head, confused on why the evil looking girl looked so familiar. Those dresses, those crowns... she was sure she’s seen them before. The detail that confused her the most was the girl’s hair. Red with streaks of golden yellow... why does she have her exact same hair pattern? Who is she?
Before she can continue to rack her brain of the familiar pictures, Rainbow Dash raced over to the wall, plucked the pictures off the wall and tossed them in the nearby trash can.
Sunset’s eyes widened at the strange action. What did she do that for?
“Hey!” An angry voice rang out.
Sunset whimpered at the familiar voice she had just met not even half an hour ago. She had now forgotten all about the pictures that were now in the trash, and instead had her focus on the fast approaching teen.
Rainbow turned her head to where the voice came from, “Lighting,” she seethed, stepping in front of Sunset to barricade her from the yellow haired teen, “I thought I told you to stay away from us.”
Lighting Dust shook her head, giving her classmates a innocent smile, “Whatever do you mean Rainbow Dash? I’m just simply passing by.”
“I don’t care! Get out of my face or I’ll—” Rainbow fumed, not believing the teen’s innocent facade she was trying to pull off.
“Oh please Rainbow Crash, we all know you’re all bark and no bite,” Lighting teased, knowing which buttons to push to irritate her teammate.
Rainbow growled, trying hard not to let the taunts get to her.
As the girls continued to bicker, Sunset all the while was darting her eyes uneasily back and forth between the blabbering teenagers.
She hugged her Phoenix tighter to her chest only to be surprised that she didn’t feel it in her arms anymore. Looking down her at her arms, the red-haired girl concluded that her toy was gone.
Whimpering, she began searching the surrounding area around her for it. Sunset furrowed her brows when she didn’t see her favorite toy there. She glanced over past the tall girls and didn’t find her plush there either.
Maybe he’s in my bag.... She thought to herself, hoping she simply put her plush inside her bag. Much to her disappointment, the Phoenix wasn’t there. Sunset began to panic even more. Where could he be?
Picking at her lips, she slowly began to unconsciously drift away from Rarity and Rainbow as she continued the search of her missing plush.
She walked down the hall of green lockers, darting her eyes back and forth on the floor, hoping she would spot her toy.
As she was going to round the corner, she spotted the missing Phoenix sitting on the blue floor. She breathed a sigh of relief as she ran towards the plush.
To her surprise, the plush quickly darted around the corner. She halted, confused to how the red and yellow plush moved on its own. There’s no magic in this world... right? So how could he have moved?
She shook her head, dismissing the thought and quickly began running again towards where it disappeared to. She rounded the corner, glancing around the hallway to notice that the plush was again sitting by the other corner of the hall.
Wasting no time, Sunset sprinted across the hall towards it. The girl breathed out a sigh of relief when she finally held her toy in her arms.
Her relief quickly turned into confusion when she noticed a old brown rope tied around the Phoenix’s waist.
Sunset tried to untie the knot but being that it was tied on real tight, the small child didn’t have the strength to take it off. Instead, Sunset felt the rope in her hands, mentally contemplating why the rope was there. The better question was who put it there in the first place? And why was the plush being hauled around?
Sunset furrowed her brows and gave it a hard tug, thinking and hoping that it’ll detach from wherever it was coming from.
Sunset frowned when the rope didn’t come off and began trying to untie the knot once more.
Suddenly, the Phoenix flew out of her hands. Sunset let out a yelp and ran after it into a dark hallway.
Sunset slowed down, finally stopping when she realized where she was. She was in a dark hallway... and she was alone. She hated the dark. Too many things went wrong in the dark. Things that haunted her in her sleep. Things that haunted her very thoughts.
Sunset began panting as she tried to push away the nightmarish memory that began playing in her head. The child whimpered as she began to slowly back away. She had to get away. She couldn’t believe what she had done. She disobeyed Twilight. She left Rarity and Rainbow Dash without even thinking about the consequences. She shivered, thinking about what Twilight will do if she finds out that she left her friends.
Just as she was about to turn around, she felt a rough hand clasp around her mouth.