//------------------------------// // The sleepover pt. 2: Sad Apple // Story: In the wake of Anon-A-Miss // by General Alduin //------------------------------// “What’re yah doing here?” Applejack growled. “Relax, I’m not here to fight.” Adagio waved Applejack off dismissively. “Then why are you here?” Sunset tensing as she stared at the Siren. “I’m taking my ten.” Adagio answered as she sat in an empty seat and scooted closer to their table. “Taking yer ten? What are yah talking-” it was then that Applejack noticed Adagio was wearing a white blouse, black pants, and a green apron with the shop's logo on it. Looking over to the other employees, she found they were wearing the exact same thing. “Yah work here?” “Bingo cowgirl.” Adagio leaned back into her chair and rested her head on her hands. “I’m not going to fight you, I don’t want to get fired after all… that and I’m not very strong after the Battle for the Bands, but I could at least land a punch.” “Ok, fine, you work here. But why are you here, at our table?” Sunset eyed Adagio suspiciously. “Are you going to follow us to get revenge?” “Wouldn’t be a smart idea if I revealed myself then followed you, would it?” Adagio said with a mocking smile. “No, I’m not going to take revenge. Couldn’t even if I wanted to.” “Then why-” “I’m here to mock you.” Adagio interrupted Applejack. “It’s the very least I can do without my amulet. I was going to mock your makeup, but it actually doesn’t look half bad, even if it’s odd that it’s on the country girl. Here to pick up a man?” “That’s none of yer business.” Applejack snapped. “Fine, fine.” Adagio held her hands up in defeat. “I think instead I’ll mock you over the whole Anon-A-Miss fiasco.” “How do you-” “I have social media, you know.” Adagio said simply. “I was keeping tabs on all of you after the Battle of the Bands, since I was angry and was going to take revenge on all of you. Eventually the crushing reality of not having our amulets set in, and I abandoned any plans for revenge in exchange for basic survival.” Adagio chuckled bitterly. “I saw how Anon-A-Miss turned your whole school upside down and how everyone put the blame squarely on you, despite how obvious a frame up it was.” Adagio laughed. “Then it turned out it was those three middle schoolers! That was hilarious! If only we had our amulets, we’d be more powerful then we were during the finals!” “So, basically yah‘ve come to gloat.” “I’ve come to mock you, not gloat. Big difference.” Adagio said with a smug smile. “Amazing how three middle schoolers with a vendetta could tear the school apart with a phone and a social media profile. They didn’t even require magic, and you played your parts perfectly. So much for the magic of friendship.” “Yeah well, me and Sunset don’t have to take it.” Applejack began walking away and pulled Sunset out of her chair. “Come on Sunset.” “Hold on.” Sunset stopped Applejack, looking back to Adagio. “You’re not… dying are you?” “Yah can’t seriously be concerned for her!” Applejack said incredulously. The two girls ignored her, staring at each other. “Not unless you count being mortal now as dying. I’m not starving for magic without the amulet now or anything.” “And your sisters?” “Sonatas killing it at her taco truck job and Arias probably being fired again as we speak. It’s going to be annoying having her try to get another job without a diploma, I keep telling her she can’t be rude to the customers but she seems content to be a bitch.” Sunset frowned. “You don’t have diplomas?” “Never went to school, so, no.” “Sunset.” Applejack said impatiently. “She’s just here to mock us. She ain’t starving, has a job, and is doing well enough to mock some customers, lets just leave.” Sunset stared at Applejack for a few seconds, looked back to Adagio, then looked back to Applejack nodding. “You’re right. Let’s go.” Applejack turned and began walking, Sunset quickly rummaging through her bag and placing a dollar bill on the table before running after her. Adagio picked up the dollar and looked it over, frowning as she studied it, then watched as the two girls exited the shop. The car ride was quiet, the two girls not sure how to broach the subject about Adagio. Applejack had found Sunsets dashboard very intriguing, while Sunset herself focused on driving. “... Why do yah care so much?” “I was just curious.” “It was definitely more than simple curiosity.” Applejack countered, crossing her arms. “Yah were concerned.” “I was not! I was just… I always worried we had condemned them to starvation after we broke their amulets. Like, yeah we needed to stop them but… I didn’t want to kill them.” Sunset cleared her throat. “Now we know. They’re fine.” Applejack didn’t look convinced. “Do yah see some of yerself in her?” Sunset visibly flinched. “Well I… I was taught a very important lesson about empathy and that’s basically what empathy is… they’re harmless now. Not exactly nice, but harmless. I know how hard it is to be from Equestria and not have any support.” “They had magical amulets to help them.” “Not now! They’re in a worse position than I ever was. They don’t even have a highschool diploma! There’s no way they can get far in life without that.” There was a lull in the conversation. “Maybe they could go to CHS?” “What!?” “They’re normal teenage girls now! Not a threat. They’re not any worse than I am.” “Even after we defeated her she’s still a smug bitch.” Applejack squinted her eyes at Sunset.  “I mean, I’m sure Crystal Prep would mock us if they knew about Anon.” Sunset knew that was mostly false equivalence. “I don't know why you aren’t giving them a second chance! You gave me one after all (mostly) and I became a demon.” “Yah didn’t mean to become a demon and yah cleaned up yer act after we beat yah. Adagio may not be some mastermind who can mind control people anymore, but she isn’t a good person.” “Maybe, but she’s still a teenage girl all alone with no diploma with only her sisters for support. I think she at least deserves the chance to have a normal life.” Another lull. “Are you scared you might get close to her and mess up like you did with me?” “No! Ah just don’t like her. Maybe she isn’t a threat anymore, maybe she is a normal girl now. But that doesn’t excuse that the first thing she did after seeing us for the first time since the Battle of the Bands was mock us about Anon! She could’ve… she could’ve said sorry and that she was turning over a new leaf, Ah know now to at least give people the chance to redeem themselves. But she didn’t, she isn’t interested in a second chance, she isn’t repentant like yah were. She just wants to make fun of us.” “You didn’t think I was interested in second chance either, even when i showed you I was repentant. I think we should take a chance on the Dazzlings and ask if they want to attend CHS. It can’t hurt to try right?” Sunset bit her lip, wondering if she should continue with her next question. “Why are you so mad she mocked us for Anon?” “Ah just…” Applejack frowned. “It… it was a bad time. Ah know that’s a bit of an understatement but it’s true. The entire time Ah just… hurt. Hurt thinking yah stabbed us in the back, hurt when yah continued even though we left yah, hurt when Ah found out Bloom was responsible, and Ah… Ah nearly lost yah and… it was my fault.” She looked to Sunset. “Ah don’t know why yah can’t be mad at her for mocking us for Anon, yah had the worst of it.” “It wasn’t that bad.” Sunset said unconvincingly.  “Yeah, only bad enough for you to run back home for two weeks and not talk to us for another two weeks.” “And I could’ve gone for three weeks.” Sunset said, raising her left arm up and pointing her index finger to accentuate her point. “So, it was about a month of shunning bad.”  Applejack tensed and stared at Sunsets wrist. “What’s that?” “What’s what?” “This.” Applejack grabbed Sunsets left arm and pulled it towards her. She pulled up the sleeve, showing an ugly scar across her wrist. Sunset's eyes widened and she yanked her arm back. “I’m driving!” She snapped before putting her hand back on the wheel. “Pull over.” “I am not pulling o-” “AH SAID PULL OVER!” Sunset jumped, looking over to see Applejack was shaking, her eyes glistening with tears. Sunset didn’t know what to say and pulled over to an isolated parking lot. “When?” “I don’t-”   “When?” Sunset was quiet for a long moment. “... A week after Anon started.” Applejack put a hand to her mouth and looked away. “Y-Yah’ve been cutting yerself for that long?” “No! AJ, this was a one time thing.” She forced Applejack to turn around and study her wrists, finding there was only one scar. “I was… I was in such a bad place that… I just wanted something to distract me. I heard that cutting is supposed to help and… I didn’t want to keep focusing on the Anon situation.” She crossed her arms over her chest. “I bought some razors and I just… cut.” She shrugged. “I don’t know if I did it wrong or if I’m a wuss, because it fucking hurt. A lot.” “It’s supposed to hurt ain’t it?” “Yeah, well, I didn’t like it. I didn’t get that cathartic release or whatever. Maybe I cut too deep or something, because I started bleeding everywhere and I panicked because of how much it hurt. Then I sanitized it so it wouldn’t get infected and that hurt. Then I had to clean up all the blood and throw out a washcloth because it was bloody. Then I swore off cutting myself entirely because it just... wasn’t worth it.” She sighed. “I don’t know, I, personally didn’t have a good experience with it.” “... Yah swear yah haven’t cut herself since then?” “I swear. Look-” Sunset pulled off her jacket, exposing the rest of her arm, lifted her shirt up over her bra to show her torso, then rolled up her pant legs as far as they could go on each leg and showed them to Applejack. “-Not a single scar.” “... Ah’ll trust yah with yer thighs, neither of us want me to see yah in yer underwear.” “Good, I wasn’t going to show you anyway.” There was a long, long silence between the two of them. “Why did you freak out?” “How could Ah not? Yer my friend and we hurt yah so much that yah… yah cut yerself.” Applejack hugged herself and looked away. “Were yah… were yah suicidal?”  Sunset was quiet, not sure how to answer that. “Don’t go all Twilight on me about it, but I thought about suicide-” Applejack gasped and placed a hand over her mouth again as tears began flowing freely. “I said not to go all Twilight on me! I didn’t say I was suicidal.” “Not suicidal?” Applejack asked incredulously.  “I didn’t say I considered suicide, just that I thought about… well, how things would be if I did. Like, you’d all see I wasn’t Anon and feel super sad. Or that I wouldn’t feel so bad anymore. It’s just something that crosses your mind when you’re in a dark place like that, I didn’t consider or plan to do anything, I have my family and friends to think about.” “Sunset, Ah don’t care if yah never considered it. Ah don’t care if yah never planned to commit suicide. Yah were suicidal.” “I was not-” “Yah wondered what would happen if yah did and thought it would be a good escape from everything that was happening.” Applejack looked at Sunset, tears running down her face. “That makes yah suicidal.” Sunset said nothing. Was she suicidal? She always thought that you had to be constantly considering or try to commit suicide to be suicidal, but maybe Applejack had a point. She did wonder if it’d be better if she died, that if she killed herself she wouldn’t be hurting anymore. Things were bad enough for her to cut herself, however briefly. “I…” “Do yah still think about it?” Applejack asked, afraid to hear the answer. “No! No, of course not.” Sunset quickly answered. “I have you, and Twi, and the other girls back home. Anons gone and I don’t feel as bad anymore. I don’t have any reason to think or consider or whatever with suicide anymore.” She placed a hand on Applejack's shoulder. “... This isn’t about me, is it?” “Of course it’s about yah!” “I mean, a little bit, but they way you acted was way too personal… Did something happen AJ?” Applejack didn’t answer immediately, wiping her eyes and staring at the floor. “My cousin, Big Apple. We all thought he was fine, last we saw him was at a family reunion. Smiling, joking, teasing.” She laughed. “He was always a comedian, making everyone laugh, playing pranks on people, acting like a big goof. Lit up the room when he walked in, everybody loved him… the next week, after everybody had gone home, I got a call that he uh… he took his pa’s shotgun, went behind the barn and… and…” Applejack began sobbing lightly, Sunset leaning over and hugging her while she cried. “It was a closed casket funeral.” “AJ I… I’m so sorry. I had no idea.” Sunset held onto Applejack as she cried her heart out into Sunset's chest, Sunset gently rubbing Applejack's back in an attempt to calm her down. “Look, I’m not going to kill myself, ok? You aren’t going to wake up one day and find I killed myself, that’s never going to happen.” Applejack pulled back sniffled and wiped her eyes. She was a mess, her makeup ruined by her crying fit and hair messy. “Yah promise?” “I promise.” She placed both hands on Applejack's shoulders. “I’m here for the long haul, whether you want me to or not.” Neither girl said anything for a long while, Applejack suddenly shooting forward and wrapping Sunset in a big, very tight hug. Sunset returned Applejack's hug with her own, the two holding onto each other for a small eternity. Finally Applejack pulled away and sniffled. “Thanks Sunset. Ah… Ah think Ah needed that.” “No problem.” Sunset flashed Applejack a smile and turned to the steering wheel. “Now, let's get you back home and clean you up. You look like Rarity when she’s overdramatic.” “Kick a girl while she’s down, nice. Ah thought yah were all about empathy.” Applejack smiled lightly, wiping her eyes and finding her hand was covered in wet makeup. “And here I thought you were all about honesty.” Sunset chuckled, turned the car on, and drove off.