FRIDAY
Sunset knocked on the door of Pinkie's house. As she waited for the door to open, she gazed up at the sky. The clouds were slowly rolling by while the sun was beginning to slip behind the horizon, ready to welcome the night. The front door opened to reveal Pinkie in her pajamas.
"Sunset!" she squealed. "Come on in!"
"Hi, Pinkie," Sunset said, stepping into the house.
"Come on!" Pinkie said, grinning from ear to ear. "Everyone's already in my room."
The two girls made their way down the hall towards Pinkie's room. Twilight, Fluttershy, and Rarity were sitting on Pinkie's bed and looking at their phones. Applejack and Rainbow were sitting on the floor in front of the bed playing a video game.
"Hi, girls!" Sunset said. The rest of the girls turned and greeted her with smiles on their faces.
"This was a really good idea to have a slumber party to close out the week, Pinkie," Sunset said.
"Well, duh," Pinkie said, rolling her eyes playfully. "It's never a bad time for a slumber party."
"And it's going to be a clear night, too," Twilight said. "I brought my binoculars so I could do some stargazing."
"Ooh!" Pinkie said. "Sounds like fun!"
"Where do you want my bags, Pinkie?" Sunset asked.
"I don't care," Pinkie said. "Just drop them anywhere."
"Alright," Sunset said, setting her bags down on the floor. Taking a seat on the bed, she turned her attention to the game that Applejack and Rainbow were playing.
"Who's winning?" she asked.
"Ah am," Applejack said, giving Rainbow a smug smile. Rainbow shot her a glare.
"Hey, Rainbow Dash," Sunset said. "Don't smack the console like you did last time. That's not yours, you know."
Rainbow said nothing but just glanced at her friend.
"Yee-haw!" Applejack hollered. "Ah finally beat you!"
"Hey!" Rainbow yelled. "I wasn't looking!"
"Too bad," Applejack said, standing up.
"I want a rematch!" Rainbow said, starting to lose her cool. Sunset rolled her eyes.
"You're such a sore loser, Rainbow Dash," Rarity said.
"No, I'm not!" Rainbow shot back, crossing her arms.
"She's right. You are a little bit of a sore loser," Fluttershy said. Before Rainbow could say anything else, the doorbell rang.
"PIZZA'S HERE!!!!" Pinkie screamed. All seven girls bolted for the door as if the apocalypse had started. Pinkie opened the door.
"Delivery for Pinkie Pie," the delivery boy said.
"Yep, that's me!" Pinkie said, taking the pizza boxes and handing the boy money. "Thank you!"
"What kind of pizza did you get, Pinkie?" Sunset asked as Pinkie closed the front door.
"One supreme, one pepperoni, one Hawaiian, and one meat lover's," Pinkie said, grinning from ear to ear. "Something for everybody!"
"I hate to break up this moment," Rarity began. "But when is Wallflower going to show up?"
"I texted her 20 minutes ago," Sunset said. "She hasn't answered me, though."
"I hope she's not doing 'you-know-what' again," Rainbow said, giving Sunset a worried look. "That's the last thing she needs."
"Well, let's not think about that," Twilight said, opening one of the pizza boxes. "I'm sure she'll be here soon."
Sunset was about to say something, but she felt her phone vibrating in her pocket. She opened her messages to see a new text from Wallflower.
"Well, she just texted me back," Sunset said.
"Wait a minute. She texted me, too," Rainbow said.
"Me three," Pinkie said.
Sunset looked at Wallflower's text and her eyes widened.
'Goodbye, Sunset Shimmer.'
"She just texted me 'Goodbye.'" she said, her voice starting to shake.
"Same here," Twilight said.
"I got the same thing, too," Rarity said.
"So did I," Fluttershy said.
"Ah don't like the sound of that," Applejack said. "We need to get to her house immediately!"
"You're right, AJ," Sunset said. "Come on, girls!"
Applejack pulled to a stop in front of Wallflower's house. The silver car was sitting in the driveway, but the front door was wide open.
"Why is the front door open?!" Twilight exclaimed.
"I don't know," Sunset said. "Come on."
The group ran up the concrete steps, into the house, and upstairs to Wallflower's room.
"She's not here!" Rainbow yelled. "Now w- hold on. What's that piece of paper on the desk?"
Sunset walked over to the desk and picked up the paper. Immediately, she clapped a hand over her mouth.
"Oh, my God."
"What's wrong, sugar cube?" Applejack asked.
"This... this is..." Sunset began.
"What is it, darling?" Rarity asked, her voice trembling.
"This is a suicide note," Sunset said.
"WHAT?!?!?!?!?!?!" Pinkie screamed. "WHAT DOES IT SAY?!?!?!?!"
Sunset began reading.
I can't do this anymore. I just can't. I'm sick of weighing everybody down. Everything everyone's ever done for me just hurts so much. I don't want to live anymore. When someone finds this note, please don't be angry with me. It's nobody's fault but mine. I'm sorry. Please forgive me.
-Wallflower Blush
"She's... she's..." Sunset stuttered, tears starting to form in her eyes. Suddenly, she heard a siren outside. She looked out the window and saw an ambulance speeding down the street. She quickly turned back to her friends.
"We have to follow them! NOW!!!"
"Can you see where it went?!" Sunset asked.
"Over there!" Rainbow called. "In the direction of the school!"
Applejack whipped the truck around a corner and headed towards Canterlot High. After a minute, they saw the emergency vehicles and police barricades lined up behind the school. They saw many of their classmates, their teachers, and even the two principals standing behind the barricades. But worst of all, they saw what they were looking at: Wallflower Blush standing on the roof of the building, very close to its edge. The group bolted towards one of the officers.
"Excuse me, Officer!" Sunset called. The officer turned around.
"I can't talk right now, miss!" he said. "We've got a situation, as you can clearly see!"
"Why is no one trying to talk to her?!" Rainbow yelled.
"We've got a professional negotiator on the way," the officer said. "When they get here, they'll do the talking. We've also got a team standing by to help her down if she changes her mind."
"Sir," Sunset began. "Would it help if we tried talking to her? We're her friends."
"No can do," the officer said. "We can't take any risks."
"Then how about I do it?" Sunset asked. "At least let me see what I can do before the negotiator arrives. Please, sir. I don't want her to jump any more than you do. Please let me talk to her."
The officer took in Sunset's words for a moment, then nodded his head.
"Alright," he said. "But you must stay behind the barricades, understood?"
"Anything to keep her from jumping, sir," Sunset said. The officer turned and waved at one of his teammates.
"Somebody grab the megaphone!" he yelled. "This young lady is going to try and talk to the girl up there!"
One of the other officers ran back to his car and stuck his head inside. A few moments later, he emerged and ran over to Sunset with a megaphone.
"Thank you," Sunset said. "You girls stay back. Let's see what I can do."
She moved towards the front of the barricades and squeezed the megaphone's trigger to make sure it was on. Seeing it was, she held it up to her mouth and began talking.
"Wallflower!" she hollered, feeling tears forming in her eyes. The green-haired girl looked down at her friend.
"Don't do this, please! It doesn't have to end like this!"
Sunset looked back at her friends for a brief moment. All of them had tears flowing freely down their faces. Turning back around, she raised the megaphone again.
"You have so much left to live for! Don't waste it!" she yelled.
Then, she saw Wallflower reach into her pocket and pull out her phone. The way she was holding it, Sunset could see that she was texting someone. A few seconds later, she felt her phone vibrate in her pocket. She reached in and took the device out to see a text from her friend standing on the roof.
'STOP IT!!! JUST STOP IT!!! EVERYBODY JUDGES ME!!! I CAN SEE IT IN THEIR EYES!!!'
"Please, just come down!" Sunset said, her voice trembling. "Please! Live for your friends! Live for yourself, please! Don't jump! Everyone down here cares for you deeply!"
Lowering the megaphone, Sunset felt her phone vibrate again. Sure enough, it was another text from Wallflower.
'I'm sorry, Sunset. I can't go on anymore. I have nothing left to live for. Goodbye.'
As soon as she finished reading the text, Sunset looked up and saw Wallflower slowly raising her right leg, ready to end her life once and for all.
No!!! No no no no no no!!! she thought. What do I do?!?! What do I do?!?!
All of a sudden, something sprung into her mind. She threw the megaphone up to her mouth again.
"LIVE FOR YOUR PARENTS!!!!!"
Instantly, Wallflower froze in her tracks. She slowly lowered her leg back down, her breath becoming shaky.
"Think about your parents, Wallflower! Do you really want them to come home and find that note on your desk?! Or have the police come to the door and tell them that their child killed herself?! Don't take away the one person in their lives that they would do absolutely anything for: YOU! They need you more than you need them! And they love you, Wallflower! They love you with every fiber of their being! And deep down, you know I'm right!"
Wallflower's eyes went wide as she stared into the sunset. Suddenly, she could see the memories of everything she'd done with her parents flashing before her eyes. Everything from watching TV with her father, to attempting to help her mother in the kitchen, to her first trip to the beach, all of it came flooding back.
"Mom... Dad..." she whispered as a tear ran down her face.
She looked down at the ground, then once more towards the horizon. Slowly but surely, she stepped back from the edge. With trembling hands, she shot Sunset another text. Sunset looked down at her phone, nearly dropping the megaphone as she read her friend's text.
'You're right. Tell everyone that I'm coming down.'
Thank God. Sunset thought. Overjoyed, she turned to the crowd behind her with a huge smile on her face.
"She's coming down!!!" she exclaimed.
Everyone cheered as she handed the megaphone back to the officer, who reached over and held down the button on his radio.
"Okay, team," he said. "Bring her down."
"Copy that."
"Miss," he said, turning to Sunset. "I can't thank you enough for what you just did."
"You're welcome, Officer," Sunset said as a tear ran down her face.
"Young lady," the officer said to Wallflower through the megaphone. "We've got a crew making their way up to you right now. Once they bring you down, you'll be taken to the hospital. And we're going to have to notify your parents as well."
Wallflower turned around to see four officers walking towards her.
"Don't worry," one of them said gently. "Everything's going to be alright."
"Thank you," Wallflower said.
"There she is!" Pinkie cried, pointing towards the school.
"Easy, Pinkie," Applejack said. "They're takin' her to the hospital. She'll be alright."
"Wait a minute," Wallflower said. "Before we leave, can I see my friends for a moment?"
"Absolutely," one of the officers said. Hearing this, Wallflower walked over to the police barricade where Sunset and her friends were standing.
"Thank you, Sunset," Wallflower said, giving her a smile. "Thank you so much."
"You're welcome," Sunset said, smiling.
"Well, they've got to take me to the hospital now, but I'm sure I'll see you girls tomorrow during visiting hours."
"Of course, darling," Rarity said.
"Good," Wallflower said. "And like my mom always said when I was younger, 'When you're feeling sad, take that sadness, throw it into a fire, and let it burn.'"
"I like that phrase," Sunset said. "I really do."
"Ms. Wallflower," one of the officers said. "You ready to go now?"
"Yes, sir," Wallflower said. "See you girls later."
The girls all gave her a wave as the four officers guided her over to the ambulance. Rainbow threw her fists into the air.
"Yes!!! We did it!" she yelled.
"What do you mean 'we?'" Twilight said. "Sunset did it."
"No, she's right, Twi," Sunset said, smiling from ear to ear. "I couldn't have done it without you girls."
"Group hug!" Pinkie shouted, wrapping her arms around Rarity and Fluttershy. The rest of the girls joined in as they gazed up at the setting sun.