//------------------------------// // Rumours fly, Sunset sighs // Story: Another Chance // by Small Muffin //------------------------------// Applebloom and Sweetie Belle sat in their homeroom, with only half the class present. The other half, Scootaloo included, decided to go and watch whatever it was Lightning Dust was up to. They would have been there to, if not for their older sisters more or less demanding that they not be there. "How long till you think she get's back?" Sweetie asked. "I dunno, but she'll get here when everybody else gets here I guess." Applebloom replied. "You think Sunset's gonna be ok?" Sweetie asked, "Who knows what Lightning wanted." "I'm sure is won't be anything she can't handle." Featherweight said from the desk next to them. "I mean this is Sunset we're talking about." "Maybe, but something's been off with her for a while now." Applebloom replied, sounding worried. "Bloom's right. She's not the same person she was." Sweetie continued. "You two might have a point actually." Pipsqueak replied, "I mean, there is that rumour about her going around." "Oh will you all just shut up." the four of them looked over at the back desk, where both Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon were sitting. "Why are you two here anyway?" Sweetie asked, "I would of thought you two would want front row seats to something like this." "I already know what's gonna happen, so what's the point?" she asked, "I'd be more worried about your little friend than her. Shimmer's gonna be fine, right Spoon?" she turned to the girl next to her. "Yeah, if she can break Bulk Biceps arm, then Dust is just asking for pain." Silver looked away and mumbled to herself, "Still, she has been off recently." Diamond turned her attention back to the others "You see? Like I was saying, she could be blindfolded and handcuffed, and she could still knock Dust to the ground." An out of breath Scootaloo quickly ran into the room, "Scoots? What happened out there?" Sweetie asked. "Hey... I got here... as soon as... I could." she said, gasping for breath. "There, she'll tell us. So dork, approximately how many broken bones does Lightning have?" she asked mockingly. "You... are not... gonna believe this." Scootaloo said. "Let me guess, Lightning was knocked out cold? Big surprise!" she burst out laughing. "Actually, she's in charge around here now." Scootaloo said. Diamond's laughter immediately died. "What?" "Sunset refused to fight and just handed ove-." "Woah woah woah, slow down Scoot. Tell us what happened, from the beginning." Sweetie asked. "Ok." she took a calming breath "It seemed like Dust wanted to anger Sunset, and then beat her in a fight for her title as the top dog here." she said. "And Dust beat her?" Applebloom asked. "Not really." she continued, "She refused to fight." "She what!" Diamond asked, standing up. There was a large crowd of people walking past the room, "Good thing I left before everyone else." Scoots said, before turning her attention back to the few people in the room. "She also just handed her position over to her, even giving Dust her jack-" "SHE DID WHAT?!?!" Diamond yelled, as she made her way over to Scootaloo. "You heard me, she just handed it to her along with her jacket." "What's wrong with her?" Spoon began, "Of all the people she could have 'handed her position to,' why her?" "I'm gonna go find out." Diamond stormed out the room, as Silver got up and followed after her. "So, Lightning Dust is in charge now?" Featherweight asked. "Yep." Scoot replied, "And I've got a bad feeling about this." Pinkie, Twilight, and Rainbow walked into the gym. Two of them had been silent on their way here, but Pinkie had been trying to lighten the mood with some weak jokes and forced laughs, before just trying to get one of them to say something through general conversation. As the three of them looked around the fully decorated gym, Pinkie and Twilight decided to sit down on one of the benches by the wall. "I'll be with you two in a sec," Rainbow said, "I gotta give someone a call." she walked out of hearing distance, and got out her phone. "So... how long have you known Sunny?" Pinkie asked, to no reply. "If you're from out-a-town, what brings you here?" again, no reply. "Can we take our minds off that for just a few moments?" "That just wasn't right." Twilight said weakly. Pinkie gave up on trying, "Yeah, she didn't need to attack her like that." she said with a sigh. "Not her, Sunset." Twilight replied. "Wait, Sunny was wrong?" she asked, now confused, "I thought she did the best she could." "But that was wrong," Twilight continued, "I see what she was trying to do, but that wasn't the way to do it." "Wait, do what?" "She could have at least defended herself. I've never been one for violence but, just standing there and taking it like that was just... wrong!" she said. "It was the best thing she could do." Rainbow said as she walked over, putting her phone in her pocket. "Best thing? Are you crazy?" Twilight asked. "Alright, let's go from the beginning then. Tell me, what was she trying to do?" Dash asked as she sat down next to Twilight. A confused Twilight looked at her, "She was... telling everypo-body that she's 'done' being who she used to be, and she's 'done' hurting those around her." "Do you think they believed her?" Rainbow asked. "It looked like some of them did, yeah." "Alright. Now how many people do you think would have believed her if she did fight back?" Rainbow continued, "Are you saying she should've beat Dust into the ground, cus she could've." "I'm not saying that, just... It would have been self defence, they'd understand." Dash laughed halfheartedly, "No they wouldn't have." she said, "If she did, then it would have just been another 'Sunset Shimmer beat down'. Trust me, not fighting back, was the best thing she could have done." "She's right you know." Pinkie added weakly. "And before you even think about it. No, there was nothing you could've done to help back there." Dash continued, "If I hadn't grabbed you, you would be laying in the nurses office right now." "Can't we just get one of the teachers to do something?" Twilight asked, "I mean, it is their job rght?" "Supposed to be, yeah. But after only a month of Sunset, and what she was doing, they all just, stopped." "Stopped? Just like that?" she asked, confused. "Yep," Pinkie added, "they just stopped caring and let her get on with it." "Did you notice any teachers back there?" Dash asked. "Now that you mention it, no I didn't." Twilight replied. "Course you didn't, they don't try anything. They didn't show up because Sunset was involved." "Why not?" "That depends on who you ask." Pinkie replied, "Some say she's got blackmail material on every teacher here, others say she's secretly in good with Principal Celestia and Vice Principal Luna, so they keep everyone off her, but no one knows the truth." "So what do you two think the truth is?" Twilight asked. "Don't know, and I don't care myself." Rainbow said dimly. Pinkie looked over to the large stage Trixie was using yesterday. "Hey, how about you two help me take that stage down." she said as she jumped up from the bench and pointed to the stage, "Because I could do with a change of subject." "She's right, come on, Twilight, was it?" Rainbow asked, getting to her feet. "Yeah, that's me, and I guess you're right." Twilight said as she got up, and the three of them walked over to the large stage. Sunset sat in the nurses office. After what happened, she just wanted to make sure that no real damage was done. "You should be fine, you might have to put up with some small stomach aches, but that shouldn't last more than an hour or two." Nurse Redheart said nicely. "Thanks Miss." Sunset replied, "How about my eye?" she pointed to the black eye patch she was now wearing "When can I take this thing off?" "It seems to be fine to me," she continued, "but keep that on for about twelve hours just to be safe, and if it still hurts by the end of break today, come back and see me. Ok?" "Yeah yeah." she replied as she got up and made her way to the door. "Sorry about all the trouble I've given you." "Trouble? What trouble?" Redheart asked. "Well I've, sent a lot of people here in my time haven't I? That couldn't of been easy." "I guess not... But what can you do?" she asked. "Well if there's no real damage, then I'm sorry for wasting your time." she said as she opened the door. "Not at all Sunset, come back anytime." Sunset turned her head around, to see Redheart smiling at her. It wasn't a fake smile like she expected to get, and it took her quite by surprise. "Will do." she smiled back, amd left the office and closed the door behind her. "Wow, really?" Sunset looked around her, and saw Gilda staring at her, "You were actually in there? And now you've got that thing on? Wow." "Hey Gilda, what do you want." Sunset asked, already expecting another beat down. "I think you know what this is about Shim." she replied. "Alright." Sunset turned around and put her hands on the back of her head, "Let's just get this over with." "Oh put your hands down, I'm not gonna hit you." she said with a laugh, "I just wanted to ask you something about it, that's all." "Huh?" Sunset lowered her hands back down, and turned around to Gilda, who was now resting on one of the lockers. "Alright then, what is it?" "Did you really mean what you said back there?" she asked, "About being sorry for what you've done?" Sunset joined her next to the locker, "Yeah, I did. Why?" "Alright then." She replied. "Why does it matter to you?" Sunset asked, "You alright?" "It's nothing you need to worry yourself with, it's just something I wanted to know." Gilda said, "I've just been thinking about some stuff recently." she moved away from the locker and began walking away. "Sorry for yesterday." Sunset said. Gilda stopped almost immediately, "I shouldn't have hit you like that. Sorry." "Nah it's fine. Didn't hurt that much anyway." she replied as she walked off. "Well look at you." she turned around to see Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon walking down the other end of the corridor towards her. "What are you wearing? You look like a joke!" Diamond said in a mocking voice. "What do you two want?" They both looked at each other for a moment, "We just want to know, what happened between you and Dust, is it true?" Silver asked. "Yeah, it's true." "So you basically just gave Dust complete control of the school!?" Diamond asked angrily. Sunset nodded, "Why would you do that?" "Because..." the school bell went off, signalling the end of first period, "If you want to know, then meet me outside at break." "Oh please, you're not the boss of us anymore, besides, just tell us now." Spoon said. "Yeah, tell us now and stop wasting our time." Tiara continued. Sunset began to walk away calmly, "I don't have time, I have class now." she said, "But if you want to talk, and are willing to listen, then you know where I'll be." she said as she continued walking, as people began leaving the classrooms around her. "So now what?" Silver asked. "I guess we have no choice, do we?" Diamond replied.