//------------------------------//
// Dress Rehearsal part 3: point of no return 
// Story: Book 1: adventures in Senior Year 
// by GRYFFINDOR123456 
//------------------------------//

Flash 
Sunset looked up as the entrance came down from the ceiling of the gym. She smiled, as I placed her mask back onto her face. She led me to the entrance, tying me to it with a long rope. 

I sighed. She squeezed my hand gently, as she gagged me. Rarity entered from off stage. She sang. I joined in, Sunset harmonising with me. Sunset tied a noose around my neck, pulling it tight, but not so tight that I couldn’t breathe.  

Then I heard a noise. I wanted to turn, but I couldn’t. I heard a familiar voice, Gilda, walk onto the stage, and into the back. I heard Rainbow Dash grunt. Sunset threw off her mask and ran backstage. I heard Sunset groan, then silence. Was she hurt?

I reached up to loosen the nooose. I took down the gag. I untied myself from the entrance and ran backstage.

Sunset lay on the floor, a gash through her left eyelid, her lips, her cheek, and a wound in her back. I gasped; she had been stabbed in the back. Fluttershy was kneeling beside her, wiping her wound on her back, wrapping bandages around it. 

I lifted Sunset’s head gently. Her eyes were closed, her breathing ragged and faint.  
Then her heart stopped. I knelt beside her, desperately trying to do CPR on her. I looked up at Fluttershy. She nodded. She ran to get a defibrillator while I continued to try to save her. 

Fluttershy ran back with a defibrillator and I took off her clothes from her body. Fluttershy placed the defibrillator on Sunset’s back and chest and then switched it on. An electric shock was sent through her body. She took a weak breath. I moved Sunset into the recovery position while Fluttershy took off the defibrillator. 

I sighed. I waited for a sign. 

Sunset’s eyes fluttered open weakly. 
“Sunset.” I said. “You’re alive.”