To Save a Life

by Infernity Zero


Gone

To Twilight's Friends,

I'm really sorry for what I'm about to do, but I just can't take it anymore. Sure, I knew people would have a hard time getting over what I did at the Fall Formal; but at the very least, you all forgave me. Gave me one lifeline to hold onto to keep from being swept away, and that was enough. Sure, it wasn't easy; there were more than a few times during those six months that I thought about giving up. But after we defeated the Sirens, I thought I could put the past behind me forever.

Wishful thinking huh?

Tear stains blotted the rest of the paper, making the letter difficult to read.

I just...don't understand. It took so little for everyone to turn on me again. Even the five of you only needed a few more posts from Anon-a-Miss to do the same. Was helping to save the school not enough to earn your trust? Was I just wasting my time? Or is forgiveness just not an option for someone like me? Maybe Twilight was right after all; maybe I am just destined to be alone.

But I can't do that. Not again. After you all showed me the love and hope that comes with friendship, I can't just go numb. If I do that, then I might as well have not changed at all. But, I can't live with this pain either, spending every day of my life knowing those treasures are there but unable to reach them. That's suffering far worse than death.

Don't try and find me. You won't. Even I don't know where I'm going. I only know one thing:

I am never coming back.

Your friend Signed,

Sunset Shimmer.

P.S. Twilight, I'm sorry I let everybody down.

With shaking hands, Twilight Sparkle finished reading the letter. The other five girls stood around her and winced at the words. No one said anything. Earlier that morning, they'd found the letter taped to Sunset's locker, and the horrified girls had immediately called the Princess for help. All they'd said was that it was an emergency; something like this was too serious to be said over the journal. Upon arrival, the panicking girls had given her a hasty explanation about Anon-A-Miss. An explanation she'd found utterly inconceivable. That the Crusaders, of all people, had launched a smear campaign against Sunset out of petulant jealousy was bad enough. But to make matters worse, everyone had fallen for it, even the other Elements. Unbelievable.

Feeling nauseous, Twilight forced back a wave of comforting denial. That would do no good now. Instead, she pocketed the message and turned to face her friends.

"Is this true?" Her voice was carefully neutral. "Is she correct about what you did?"

Rainbow Dash stepped forward, her eyes downcast. "Yes. It's true. We thought she was Anon-a-Miss and trying to drive us apart again."

"I see." Twilight turned around, her back toward the girls. "I have a some questions for you all."

"Okay."

She faced them again and looked straight at Applejack. "What evidence did you have that she posted your information?"

"Well," AJ scratched her head. "We thought that since she'd been the only one there when we all shared our secrets, that it couldn't be anyone but her."

"I see." Twilight kept her tone flat but allowed her eyes to narrow. "So I assume you checked her phone to see if she posted the info, then? Or maybe you checked her profile to see if it matched Anon-a-miss? Or even checked among yourselves how it could have gotten leaked before blaming anyone?"

"N-not exactly." Applejack brought the rim of her hat down over her eyes.

"I see." Came the reply again. Now, she set her sights on Rarity. "Question two: Did she have any sort of motive for being Anon-A-Miss?"

Rarity avoided her gaze. "Well, like Applejack said, we thought she was trying to drive us apart again."

"And what would she have to gain by doing so? Why would she want to reopen old wounds after finally gaining the school's acceptance? It doesn't make sense." Twilight began drumming her fingers on her arm. "The only way that would make sense is if she wasn't really reformed at all. Do you still have doubts after all this time?"

The girl stepped back, silenced by the words.

At last, Twilight turned to Pinkie and Fluttershy.

"One more question. After this whole conflict was resolved, did any of you even apologize to Sunset for your false accusations?"

Frightened, they both shook their heads.

"I see." She muttered a third time. "That's all I needed to know." Taking a few steps forward, she faced the group as a whole.

"I'm very disappointed in you. When I left Sunset in your care after the Fall Formal, I thought that you five could help her reform herself. But you didn't. One would think you'd give her the benefit of the doubt after saving us during the band competition. But you didn't. One would think you'd try to make amends after realizing you were wrong about her. But you didn't. Instead, you abandoned her like she was nothing. You're no better than the Dazzlings.

"Now come on." She turned to leave. "We have to find her before she does something drastic. Assuming you still care about her at all and weren't just helping her for my sake."

Though she couldn't see it, each of the girls had tears in their eyes. Shame weighed heavily on all of them.

"Twilight we--"

"You have a lot to think about."


They searched in silence; no one had anything to say. The school was their first stop. While some of the students had seen her there earlier, most of them didn't have a clue where she'd gone afterwards. Those who did could only offer vague statements which contradicted each other and gave the girls no help. Trying not to panic, the girls split up, each checking a different area of the school.

Back in the main foyer, Twilight decided to talk to the Principals. Perhaps they could offer more help.

Thunk! Thunk!

"It's open." Came a voice inside.

Twilight slowly opened the door. "Hello Principal Celestia."

"Good afternoon, Twilight. I didn't know you were coming back today." Celestia smiled and stood up. "What brings you here?"

"I'm looking for Sunset Shimmer. Have you seen her?"

The smile vanished as quickly as it had appeared. "Y-yes. She was in my office just this morning."

This doesn't bode well.

"How was she feeling?" Twilight once more choked down panic.

Celestia put an arm behind her head. "She was...devastated. Sobbing like she'd just found out a loved one had died. I tried to calm her down, but she was inconsolable. She told me she knew the girls would never accept her now, she was completely alone without them, and she couldn't live like that again. That without their support, she had nothing to live for."

Oh no. Twilight's heart sank. It's even worse than I thought.

"Principal Celestia, do you know where she went?"

"I can't say exactly." The woman frowned. "She left the school before I could stop her. But judging by the security cameras, she was heading for the Everfree Forest." Seeing the look on Twilight's face, she kept going. "The Everfree forest is a patch of woods on the outskirts of Canterlot that divides the city from Everton County. Reportedly, a lot of strange stuff happens in there. Just leave the school and head west. There's nothing else in that direction."

"Thank you." Twilight turned to leave. "We'll find her as soon as we can." Wasting no more time, she collected the rest of the girls, and they headed out once again.

Sunset please, just hang on.


Rain.

That was the first change they noticed. Even though in Canterlot the sun still shone brightly in a clear sky, the Everfree Forest somehow had a surplus of storm clouds. The second was the trees. They were gnarled, bony, and strangest of all, black instead of brown. What few leaves there were had an odd blue tint. Third was the darkness. Even though it was still the middle of the afternoon, the area before them looked completely pitch-black; they could barely see a few feet beyond the entrance. All in all, only one word could accurately describe the place.

Unnerving.

The girls looked each other, uncertain.

"Maybe this isn't a good idea, Twilight. Maybe we should come back later."

"Absolutely not." Twilight brushed it off right away. "You saw the letter. Sunset could be in there right now about to do who-knows-what. We can't wait any longer. Come on. We're going in."

Without hesitation, she walked into the woods. The others waited less than a second before going in after her.

Inside the forest, the rain was even worse, coming down in sheets and pushing against them. Gusts of wind flared up at random, buffeting them into trees. Despite that, they kept moving forward, crashing into branches and stumbling over roots as they went. Unable to see each other, they held hands, not wanting to lose each other too. And as they trekked forward, they called for their friend.

"Sunset!"

"Where are you, Sunny?"

"Sunset darling, can you hear me?"

"Please don't do anything you'll regret!"

"We're sorry about Anon-a-Miss!"

There was no reply. They didn't know if the rain was deafening their voices or if she just wasn't there to hear them, but they kept going regardless. Even if Twilight wasn't pushing them forward, they all know what might happen if they didn't find her. The search went on for what felt like hours. But eventually, they had to rest.

"Girls." Rarity took in a breath. "I don't want to alarm you, but I think we're lost."

"Nonsense." Pinkie gritted her teeth. We're not lost. We're still moving forward."

"But forward where? This forest is huge. And we have no idea where Sunset is in it."

"Well, we can't stop now even if we wanted to. Turning around now will just get us MORE lost."

"Ah know, Twilight. But we got to find our bearings. Won't do Sunset any good if we don't know where we are."

With a sigh, Twilight came to a stop. She knew Applejack was right. Squinting hard, she stared into the darkness, looking for something, anything they could use to orient themselves. Thankfully, her eyes had adjusted enough to see better; but other than the trees, there wasn't much else to see save for some vines on the ground. Upon closer inspection though, one of them stood out. While the rest were black and stringy, that one was thick, green and covered in flowers. With that new knowledge came an idea, and she started tugging it.

"Whatcha doing, Twi?"

"This vine's different from the other ones; so if we follow it, we'll at least be able to keep moving in one direction." And they did. The vine stretched onward leading them deeper into the forest. Quiet fell once again as they focused on moving forward, filled with determination. To add to their good fortune, the rain finally stopped, the warm rays of the sun poking through the clouds. The light lifted the curtain of blackness around their eyes; its harsh glare forced them to squint.

And then Twilight's foot touched nothing but air.

Unable to stop herself, she lurched forward and downward into a giant sinkhole. Flailing her arms, she managed to grab one of the slides, flipping herself over in the process. Her other hand still held the vine; and to her surprise, it seemed to be jutting right out of the hole.

"Are ya all right, sugar-cube?"

"F-fine. Just a little shaken." Twilight gave a nervous laugh. "Can you help me out of here please?"

"Sure thing." Rubbing their eyes clear, the girls reached down to help.

The vine however, had other ideas. In an instant, it had yanked itself out of her grasp and wrapped tightly around her legs.

"AAH, This thing is ALIVE!" And it was pulling her down.

"Twilight!" Applejack grabbed Twilight's arm and tried to haul her back up only for the vine to overpower her grip and drag her down too. "WHOA!"

This didn't go unnoticed by Rainbow Dash who quickly grabbed AJ's legs; but once again, the vine proved stronger and she went down after them. "AAAAH!"

Not to be deterred, Rarity wrapped her arms around Rainbow's torso while Fluttershy kept her steady. But again, the vine was too strong. "Oh my GOODNESS!"/"HAAAAH!"

And finally Pinkie Pie, completely oblivious to the danger, cannonballed herself down the hole after them. "WHEEE!" They fell and screamed. Once more, the darkness had taken away their sight. After what seemed like ages, they finally hit bottom. All of them blacked out from the impact.


"Wake up."

Twilight had to wonder why her EVERYTHING hurt: her head felt like someone had dropped a dumbbell on it, her chest felt like she'd been hit by a truck, and her limbs felt like jelly when she tried to move them.

"Hey buddy. Are you all right?"

Yet, all of this pain told her that she was still alive, so she slowly opened her eyes. Forcing herself to stand, she looked around for the others but couldn't see them.

"Who said that?"

"Down here, Missy." replied the voice. She looked down to see something strange.

"A flower with a face on it? Am I going crazy?"

"Howdy. I'm Flowey. Flowey the Flower."