Fluttershy pulled into the driveway and turned off her car. She moved to get out when she noticed Sunset staring at her house anxiously, refusing to move.
“Hey.” She placed a hand on Sunset's shoulder. “It’s gonna be alright, my parents will come around.”
“You don’t have to do this, you know.” Sunset retorted. “I’m really not going to kill myself.”
“Better to be safe than sorry. Besides, you’ve had a rough night, you could probably use a friend right now.” She smiled reassuringly at Sunset. “Now come on.”
Sunset reluctantly unbuckled her seatbelt and got out of the car, wincing at even the slightest movement. She followed Fluttershy who eventually unlocked and opened the front door. Sunset took a deep breath to steel her nerves and walked in, closing the door behind her.
Fluttershy's mother looked up from her book. “Fluttershy? Why are you here so late? We thought you were at Pinkies.” She looked towards Sunset and her eyes widened. “Who’s this?”
“Did Rainbow text you saying I was at Pinkies?” Fluttershy's mother nodded, eliciting an annoyed groan from Fluttershy. “Bit presumptuous of her… no, I decided to skip the sleepover tonight. I was out late because I was helping a friend.”
“A friend?” Sunset fidgeted under Mrs. Shys scrutinizing look. “You’ve never mentioned a friend like this before.” Mrs. Shy stood up and walked over to Sunset, finally noticing the girl's disheveled state. “Oh honey, what happened to you? You look like you’ve been put through the ringer.”
Sunset stammered out an incoherent response. “She’d rather not talk about it.” Sunset and Mrs. Shy looked to Fluttershy. “Something crazy happened at the Formal and she was in the middle of it, she really just needs a long bath and some sleep.”
“Oh, well I don’t want to pry.” Mrs. Shy smiled at Sunset. “What’s your name dear?”
Sunset paled and began shaking. This was it, Mrs. Shy would realize who she was and kick her out. Surely Fluttershy couldn’t stand up to her mother, she was far too passive. ‘Perhaps I can lie? Just for one night? It wouldn’t hurt anybody, we can tell her later.’ Sunset shook her head. ‘No. I’m not that kind of person anymore. I’m trying to be better, I can’t be a lying bitch again. Fluttershy deserves better than that.’ Sunset looked up at Mrs. Shy fearfully. “M-My names S-Sunset Shimmer.”
“Sunset Shimmer?” Mrs. Shys eyes hardened into a glare as she recognized the name. “As in, the Sunset Shimmer who’s bullied my daughter for years? The Sunset Shimmer who broke apart her friendships? The Sunset Shimmer who could never be punished by teachers? That Sunset Shimmer?” Sunset shook and nodded fearfully. Mrs. Shy looked at her daughter. “Fluttershy, honey, care to explain?”
“Mom, I know this is… unexpected, but Sunsets had a really tough night and she really needs to be with someone right now.” Fluttershy pleaded. “She’s changed mom, she apologized to me.”
“Nobody changes that quickly, Fluttershy.”
“Well, I imagine nearly dying puts things into perspective.” Fluttershy offered innocently, her mother’s demeanor changing immediately.
“Nearly dying?” She looked to Sunset. “What does she mean by that?”
Sunset could only stutter awkwardly before Fluttershy interrupted. “Mom, look at her! She’s been through enough, let’s not make her recount what happened.” Fluttershy grabbed Sunsets arm and began leading her away. “I’ll tell you later, ok? Right now we need to get Sunset cleaned up.”
Mrs. Shy stared after the two girls, a mixture of pity, confusion, and anger on her face. She was torn between despising Sunset for what she put her daughter through and pitying her for her near death experience… whatever it was. She shook her head and decided she’d deal with that later, she needed to tell her husband what was happening.
Fluttershy dragged Sunset towards her room a little too hastily, Sunset wincing in pain and trying to keep up. “Now, That should buy us some time. The school will probably have an explanation and we can use that, we’ll just have to use the traumatized excuse until the school comes up with something.”
Sunset stared at Mrs. Shy until she disappeared behind a corner, prompting Sunset to look forward. “Did you seriously just lie to your mom?”
Fluttershy seized up nervously. “Well, what was I supposed to do? Besides, it wasn’t not a near death experience…”
“I’m just surprised, I never imagined someone like you could lie so quickly.”
“I’m a teenager Sunset, you think I’ve never lied to my parents before? Don’t tell my parents I said that... ” She said with a teasing smile. “Now, I don’t make a habit out of it like some people do, but I have lied before. At least I’m lying for a good reason this time.”
“What kind of stuff have you lied about exactly?” Sunset asked innocently. “Maybe about a certain something I accidentally learned earlier?”
“Sunset, we just became friends, you were never even supposed to know. I’m not comfortable revealing that to you, only Dash knows.”
“Why Rainbow Dash? She doesn’t seem like she’d be great at keeping secrets.”
“Hey! I know my Dashie." Fluttershy said defensively. "She’ll struggle to keep a secret, but I know she’ll take it to the grave with her."
“Well, you’re the expert. All I know is how to break her and Applejacks friendship apart.” The two girls shared a small giggle at Sunsets self-deprecation as they reached Fluttershy's door.
“Now, you’ll be sleeping in my room for the time being, I don’t want you sleeping on the floor so you can have my bed, I'll just get a sleeping bag and sleep on the floor instead. You should also probably take a shower. I'll give you one of my pajamas, though I don’t think they’re exactly your style. Hope you don’t mind.”
Sunset merely stood there dumbly as Fluttershy went to her dresser, grabbing a pair of neatly folded light green pajamas with butterflies scattered across it. She couldn’t believe what she was hearing: Fluttershy offering her bed, willing to sleep on the floor for Sunset, offering her some pajamas.
She was overwhelmed with gratitude and guilt and wiped her eyes before she began crying again. “Hey, is something wrong?”
Sunset looked into the concerned eyes of Fluttershy and cleared her throat awkwardly. “Y-yeah, just… It’s not fair that you sleep on the floor after everything that happened, you’re doing enough. You can take the bed.”
“Sunset, you are clearly injured, we probably should’ve taken you to the hospital in fact. I am not having you sleep on the floor.” Fluttershy walked up to Sunset and forced her pajamas into the red heads arms. “Sleeping on the floor might make you even more injured."
“But it’s not fair to you, you don’t deserve to be forced off your bed. I don’t even really deserve to be here.” Sunset yelped lightly when Fluttershy grabbed her shoulders.
“You are my friend. A friend who’s injured. A friend that needs someone right now.” Sunset was surprisingly intimidated by the girl's stare, sweating nervously. “You deserve to be here.”
“Why are you so adamant that we’re friends?” Sunset asked defiantly. “You don’t even know if I’ve really changed.”
“I do know.” Fluttershy fired back, letting go of Sunset's shoulders. “I don’t know how, but I do. You’re not the same, I'm not sure how you're different or why you changed so quickly, but I know you're not the same-"
“Bitch?”
“Jerk that you used to be.” Fluttershy frowned at Sunsets choice of words. “I don’t care if nobody else thinks you’ve changed, I know the truth. And by God, you’re going to sleep on my bed whether you like it or not young lady!” Fluttershy growled as she stared at Sunset intensely, her hands on her sides.
Sunset was taken aback by Fluttershy's attitude. “Where was this defiant attitude back when I was bullying you?”
“Oh! I’m so sorry.” Fluttershy immediately lost her composure and shrunk into herself, twitching nervously. “I didn’t mean to be so demanding, I don’t know what came over me.”
Sunset was even more flabbergasted at how quickly Fluttershy retreated to the vulnerable shy girl she was familiar with. “Ok mom. I’ll sleep on the bed. But you’re sleeping with me.”
“W-what!?” Fluttershy's pupils shrunk to pinpricks and she looked like she was about to faint.
“Not in that way.” Sunset sighed, annoyed with her bad phrasing. “Just sleep next to me, that way no one sleeps on the floor.”
“Oh, that’s a relief.” Fluttershy let out a huge sigh and placed a hand on her chest. “I guess I can do that, but it may not be very comfortable with the two of us.”
“It’s only for one night, right?” Sunset shrugged. “I should be able to go back home tomorrow.”
“Are you sure?” Fluttershy asked as she carefully studied Sunset.
“I’m not going to kill myself.”
“It’s not that, I just don’t know where you live. You’re not…” Fluttershy frowned. “You’re not homeless are you?”
“No, I'm not homeless! You think I'd survive two years being homeless?” Sunset huffed. “I rent out a cheap apartment from this weird landlady. Just as long as rent doesn’t go up I’ll be fine.” She saw that Fluttershy wasn’t satisfied with that explanation, perhaps she thought Sunset was lying? “Look, I’ll bring you home tomorrow and you can judge my living situation yourself. Ok?”
“Fine.” Fluttershy nodded slowly. “But if I find you’re living out of an abandoned factory, you are staying here.”
“You’re very mom-like, you know that?”
“I get that a lot.” Fluttershy giggled. “Now, go take a bath.”
“I just had flashbacks to when I was four and my mom tried to force my to take a bath.”
“Bath.” Fluttershy grabbed Sunset and lightly shoved her towards the bathroom. “It’s one of those weird handles where you have to turn it all the way around to get hot water, don’t turn it all the way though or you’ll literally get boiling water, gives you burns and everything.”
“You should probably get that checked.” Sunset said with a half smile as she made her way to the bathroom.
“Yeah, I know. But dad doesn’t want to spend the money.” Fluttershy said with a hint of annoyance. “Oh! And lock that door! My brother never knocks. You have my permission to punch him if he barges in on you naked.”
“I was going to do that anyway but it’s nice I won’t have to worry about getting in trouble.” Sunset joked before disappearing behind the bathroom door and quickly locking it. Her smile immediately faded and she stumbled over to the sink. She winced as she began undressing and threw the dirty, ragged clothing haphazardly on the floor.
She splashed some cold water on her face and looked at herself in the mirror for over a minute. She looked over every scratch, bruise, and scuff mark along her body, beginning to tear up again before quickly wiping her eyes. “Faust, you’re pathetic…”
She stood there for another minute, berating herself for how horrible of a person she was and how she didn’t deserve Fluttershy's kindness. She finally realized she was wasting Fluttershy's water, berating herself for that too, and turned it off.
Sunset made her way to the shower and turned it on, sitting down and hugging her legs to her chest as the hot water washed over her skin, cleaning off all the caked blood and dirt. She buried her face into her legs and began silently sobbing to herself, not even taking notice of the stinging pain from her shoulder blades.