//------------------------------// // Chapter 3 // Story: A Second Chance to Find Home // by Burning Sunset //------------------------------// Sunday, December 13 "You know I love you, right?" Fluttershy asked, stradling Sunset as she sat in her lap under a large tree in the middle of what looked to be a small clearing in a large forest. There was this huge tree away from the mass of smaller ones and a crystal clear lake just a few yards away from the pair. Both of them was wearing bikinis and their hair was wet and tangled after a nice swim. "And I love you to." Sunset said as Fluttershy leaned down while Sunset leaned up to meet the girl's lips in a passionate kiss. It seemed to go on forever as Sunset's hands rested on the pink haired gir's waist while FLuttershy's hands was on Sunset's shoulders. As peaceful as the scene was, something was bothering Sunset about it. This was something that she had been wanting for so long, to be able to show Fluttershy just how much she loved her, and for the girl to return those feelings. How did they get to the lake though? It was a place that was unfamiliar to SUnset, yet she felt completely safe here. "What's wrong?" Fluttershy asked as she pulled back, a hurt look in her eyes as she met Sunset's own confused gaze. "I don't know, Shy. Something just doesn't feel right." Sunset said softly, reaching up to brush her fingers against Fluttershy's cheeks. She couldn't understand why she just couldn't enjoy the moment as it was everything she wanted. Of course she wanted to take things slow with Fluttershy, and this seemed almost a little too fast, but that wasn't what was bugging Sunset about this situation. "What, I'm not good enough for you?" Fluttershy asked, her eyes narrowing. "Then again, I'm just a dork, right?" "What, I'd never say that about you Shy!" Sunset gasped out as Fluttershy leaned back a little. "You did you monster! Why don't you go kill yourself you freak! Nobody loves you anyways!" Fluttershy snarled as she pulled a knife out from somewhere as the sky all of a sudden became overcast, the dark clouds blocking out most of the sun. "Why are you saying these things?" Sunset sobbed out, reaching up to Fluttershy who stayed in her spot with a dark look on her face. With a grin, Fluttershy lashed out with the knife slashing across Sunset's wrists splashing blood on both girls as the pink haired girl started giggling madly. "Because I hate you, Sunset." FLuttershy giggled, licking the blood from the knife slowly. "I hate you so much that I just want you to die!" "FLUTTERSHY!" Sunset screamed trying to sit up, but found herself restrained in bed. She started thrashing for a few moments before a new voice calmed her down. "Hey, wake up honey, your having a nightmare." The voice said softly, gently as it's tone seemed to calm Sunset down as she sobbed. "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry! I didn't do it!" Sunset sobbed as the new woman gently ran her fingers through Sunset's hair, stroking the girl's head as she cried herself out. "Are you okay, sweetie?" The new woman asked, wearing scrubs that looked a lot like her nurse from yesterday. "I'm sorry, I was just having a bad dream." Sunset admitted, her voice cracking as the woman reached over to the table and held the cup up to her lips taking a sip. Even if Posey didn't make sure she was restrained for the night after Velvet had to leave, Sunset doubted she would be able to hold the cup for herself. As Posey had explianed, when she cut her wrist she had done some minor damage to her muscles and nerves that would heal thanks to the surgery, but the doctor expected a full recovery. Until then she was supposed to take it easy when using her hands. She had found she couldn't get a tight grip on anything, but she figured out how to balance her spoon to eat enough on her own as long as nothing needed cut up or anything. The cup was something else all together as it was just too heavy to lift up easily. "It's okay honey, we all have them. Would you like to talk about it?" The nurse asked softly, patting Sunset's shoulder. "Not really." Sunset sighed out, turning to look away. "Well, we do need to talk still. I'm the on call mental health doctor, Soothing Voice." Soothing Voice said making Sunset wonder why the woman wasn't wearing one of those white coats like the other doctors seemed to all wear. "So you've come to tell me I'm being locked up huh?" Sunset asked, a little surprised at the shake of the woman's head. "I tend to try and avoid that if at all possible. If somebody has people to care for them I find it better for somebody's helth to be with them instead of forced to be locked up in a lonely hospital room with strangers." Soothing Voice said, her voice seeming to do what it implied, soothing Sunset's fears and anger as the teen laid there just staring at nothing in particular. Pulling a chair over, the woman sat down, crossing her legs as she looked into the young girl's eyes. "This is between us, nobody else will find out. Not your doctor Posey or the family you will be staying with. I need to know though, why did you do this to yourself?" "Why should I trust you?" Sunset asked, swallowing nervously at the grin on the woman's face. "Because I'm the one that decides if you get locked in one of those lonely hospital rooms." Soothing Voice said in a teasing manner making Sunset believe she was just kidding yet she couldn't help swalloing nervously. "You promise you won't tell anyone." Sunste sighed, knowing full well that this world valued the whole doctor and patient confindetiality. "I promis." Soothing Voice smiled. "Fine, I did it because I didn't have a choice. Either freeze to death or end it quickly." Sunset sighed, hoping the woman would drop it at that, but the look she was getting from Soothing Voice told her it wasn't going to be so easy. "Somehow I get the feeling that there is more to it. Who is Fluttershy? You was crying out her name in your sleep earlier." Soothing Voice said making Sunset blush remebering the dream she was having. She could still feel Fluttershy's lips on hers and how good it had felt. "She was a friend." Sunset sniffed, closing her eyes. "Was that all she was?" Soothing Voice asked softly, reaching over to comforting rub Sunset's upper arm. "I loved her, but I didn't feel she could love me. What did I have to offer her? I'm homeless with no family and no way to make money." Sunset sniffed, "Still, I loved her but I could never admit it to her. I was a bully to her and everyone for so long. I worked so hard to make it up to her, to everyone and then someone made it look like I was spreading their secrets over MyStable. They turned on me, the poeple I thought were my friends who told me I was family turned on me!" "Oh sweetie." Soothing Voice whispered softly, feeling very bad for the crying girl. "She said she hated me. Fluttershy hates me!" Sunset sobbed out as Soothing Voice did her best to calm the girl down. She felt really bad for the girl and was worried about her trying this again if she wasn't shown that there was people who could and would love her. Thankfully she knew Velvet was going to be taking her in which eased her fears a lot, yet she was going to have to make sure Velvet kept an eye on the girl for now. "Honey, I truly hat eto say this, but if your friends turned on you so easy then maybe they don't deserve you." Soothing Voice said as Sunset settled down. "I know the woman who is taking you in and she will take good care of you. She will care for you if you let her and she has a really sweet daughter that's your age. I bet you two could be good friends." "I'm not sure if I want to try to make more friends." Sunset whimpered softly. "I know it hurts honey, but if your strong then things tend to not only work out in the end, they usually work out for the better." Soothing Voice said, already knowing her reccomendation. Sure she usually got a headache from her superiors, but she always had the satisfaction of being right in the end. She didn't know what it was exactly, but she could always feel what was right for someone to help them heal after just being with them a few minutes. Maybe it was her experience or makybe it was just some kind of unnatural instinct, but she had never been wrong once. "I think it's safe to say that you will be okay going home with Velvet when Posey is ready to release you. Just promise me that you will at least try with her. She's a good woman and won't do anything to hurt you." "Sure, just more false promises of family and friendship." Sunset sighed which made Soothing Voice a little sad hearing. She would have to talk to Velvet about it and make sure the woman didn't even hint at anything she really didn't mean to follow through on. XXXXXXXXXXXXXX "I still don't think this is a good idea, Velvet." Posey growled out as she sat behind her desk looking at another patient's file. She was having trouble figuring out what was wrong with them, but she couldn't really do much until the labs came back and they were backed up this morning. "And you know I don't care about your opinion on this. I know what you said, that this girl did some horrible things in the past. Don't think I'm stupid enough to take somebody in without having plans to make sure my family is safe.I won't leave a hurting young woman like her alone with nobody on Christmas though like all the other registered foster parents." Velvet said, her voice a little hard. She really wish Posey would trust her more, yet that was the entire reason their friendship had ended and had never been repaired despite Velvet's attempts to fix things. She was sure her daughter would be great friends with FLuttershy, yet Posey wanted nothing to do with them. Of course Velvet knew a part of the reason was that Posey blamed Velvet for trying to protect her. Posey's husband had been a drunk, but no matter how the doctor defended her husband claiming it was a disease, it didn't explain the abuse. He beat and belittled both Fluttershy and Posey even when not drunk off his rocker and Posey had defended him for so long claiming he loved them. Posey had tried so hard to change him, in the end it was sending Fluttershy to the hospital that finally drilled it into the woman's head that if something wasn't done then one of them was going to be killed, if not both. Posey had pressed charges, had him arrested and thrown in prison and divorced. Yet since then a part of Posey couldn't help blaming Velvet for it all. "They never want the damaged ones, it's too hard for them to take care of them and help them." Posey scoffed, both of them agreeing that some of those families shouldn't be allowed to take in children because all they wanted was the checks. Something Velvet's family didn't need as Night Light was a scientist and Velvet was a best selling author, both of them bringing in more than enough money so none of them ever wanted for anything. "Well, can I take her then?" Velvet asked earning a glare from Posey. "As soon as the doctor says she can go, I think she can." Soothing Voice said surprisng both women. She was a good friend of both of them, yet hated being around both at the same time as you could almost actually cut the tension between them. It was something Soothing Voice understood yet hated as it was stupid. Yet sometimes it was hard getting your head and heart to reconcile with each other over painful matters. "I don't think this is a good idea, but I'll go check on her. She really should stay for the forty-eight hours for observation though." Posey grumbled. "It will be fourty-eight hours tonight though techinically." Velvet pointed out making Posey growl. "Give me a few damned minutes and I'll see if she can go!" Posey snapped out before storming out of the office, Soothing Voice taking her chair as Velvet hung her head. "I miss the way we used to be before that bastard." Velvet sighed out, Soothing Voice agreeing with a nod of her head. "She still hurts Vel, she knows you only did it because you care for her and she still loves you. She's afraid of admitting that you were right and she let her daughter be hurt because of her stubborness." Soothing Voice sighed, knowing it was true. She wasn't Posey's doctor, the woman refusing to see a 'shrink' of any kind. "I know, it's why I haven't given up." Velvet sighed, "But I think there's something else to it." "What do you mean?" Soothing Voice asked, arching an eyebrow though she had a feeling that she knew what was on Velvet's mind. "I'd rather not say, I don't know if it's true or not and I really hope it isn't." Velvet sighed, "What about Sunset Shimmer though? What should I know about her?" "She has some abandonment issues, but you know I can't talk about details. All I can say is that you need to be extremely careful with her, she's very fragile." Soothing Voice said. "Do you think she's dangerous?" Velvet asked, a little worried about her own daughter yet she had faith in Twilight that the girl could become friends with Sunset and help the girl over whatever it was that was bothering her. "No, at least not to anybody else. I turned the camera off before I sent in, but I studied her on the camera when she interacted with the nurses. She was sad, but always very friendly with them and didn't exhibit any malicious tendencies." Soothing Voice explained, "She doesn't need you making her think that she will be staying permanantly with you though, so make sure that you remind he rthat you care but that we are searching for a permanant place for her." "Okay, I understand that and already intended to do that." Velvet sighed, "Shiny's room has beenemptied out for awhile and w ehave had two other kids stay there tempraily since he moved out and in with Cadence." Velvet explained. "I will be sleeping in a recliner my husband is having put in there to keep an eye on her though to make sure she doesn't do anything." "I understand that, and I do partially agree with that. You need to be careful about smothering her though and be patient." Soothing Voice said, mentally smacking herself at that. Velvet was the paragon of patience. "Aren't I always?" Velvet asked with a smile. XXXXXXXXXXXXX "Okay, I guess I can have Bright Heart come in and help you get dressed." Posey grumbled, not really wanting to release the girl just yet. True she wanted her out of the hospital as soon as possible, but she didn't feel right letting her go before the usual forty-eight hour observation period for something like this, but her guardian wanted her checked out as soon as possible so she technically had to comply unless it was life threatening to the point she could call Cadence in on it. "I can get dressed myself." Sunset huffed, sitting up on the edge of the bed, feet dangling off the side with her toes brushing against the floor. "Really, so you intend to go out of here without a bra?" Posey asked, arching her eyebrow. Sunset was about to retort as her face burned, but she realized what Posey was talking about. There was no way she was going to be able to get the stupid thing on or zip her skirt or boots up with her fingers unable to really grip anything. "Fine." Sunset grumbled, admitting that she may need a little help. "Sunset." Posey sighed, "I don't know what exactly is going on with you and my daughter, but I am sorry for being so short with you. I am going to write a doctor's excuse for you to stay home this week and by the time Christmas vaction is over with, you should be well enough to go back to school. You will need to come back here so I can check your wrists several times, and after they are healed enough you may have to start physicla therapy." "I kind of figured." Sunset sighed. "For what it's worth Sunset, I'm sorry that you felt this was your only option. I may not trust you, but you souldn't have ever felt that this was an option." Posey said softly. "If you ever tell anyone this, I'll deny it, but give Velvet a chance. She's a good woman and a goo dmother, she'll tale very good care of you." "Will you please keep this a secret from Fluttershy? I don't want to ruin her Christmas by making her worry about me." Sunset sighed, looking down so she didn't see the shocked look cross Posey's face. "I already plan to, I don't want to ruin my baby's Christmas." Posey grumbled, "Once you get dressed just sit and wait until Velvet comes to get you in a few minutes after I discharge you." "Thanks." Sunset sighed, watching the doctor turn to leave. She could feel that the woman may not have hated her, but she sure didn't like Sunset. She really did feel bad though that Sunset had to end up here which Sunset could tell as she had been almost as kind as Fluttershy at times. "Tell me the truth, why did you do this?" Posey asked, afraid of the answer. "Tell me, if you were looking at possibly freezing to death would you want to or would you rather end it quickly?" Sunset asked, looking down as she knew it may have been her logical reasoning, it wasn't the main motivation for doing it. "Look, I may not like you really, but I don't want you to freeze to death. If for some reason you ever find yourself in that situation again come to my house and I'll give you a warm place to stay and something to eat. Okay?" Posey asked, her voice becoming a little gentle making Sunset nod in stunned silence. Posey gave her s small smile before leaving after saying, "Good, and good luck with Velvet." XXXXXXXXXXXX "Hi sweetie, how are you feeling?" Velvet asked as she stepped into the room, noticing the redness in the teen's cheeks as she sat on the bed. She couldn't help wondering why she seemed to be either embarrased or angry about, but those eyes weren't those of someone who was angry. "Humiliated." Sunset sighed as she looked up at the older woman. They had spent a long time yesterday just talking and the teen had to admit that the woman was nice. Though Sunset really didn't look forward to meeting her children after learning what their names were, Shining Armor and Twilight Sparkle. Thankfully she knew before being taken to their home because she was sure she would have freaked out otherwise. Spending a couple weeks with Twilight Sparkle wasn't exactly high on her to do list, but she didn't have much choice. "What happened?" Velvet asked, before looking to the girl's bandaged wrists then realized what Posey had told her. Sunset would need help with a lot of things, cutting up food, picking anything heavy up, bathing and dressing. She could see why the girl was embarrased as she was dressed and ready to go which meant a nurse must have helped dress her. "Just a reminder of how stupid I was." Sunset sighed, unsure if she meant she was stupid for actually doing it or stupid for not finishing it. "It will be okay honey, you'll see." Velvet said, hugging the girl. She already had Sunset's discharge papers folded up in her purse before coming to collect the teenager. "Sure it will." Sunset sighed, not really believing it. Sure she was going to have a place to stay, but she wasn't looking forward to being bathed and dressed by strangers since she couldn't get her wrists wet. She wasn't even allowed to wash her hands, she had to let the nurse clean them with those fowl smelling wipes in little foil packages and hand sanitizer. "It will honey, but let's get out of here for now." Velvet said as the girl got up. Velvet helped her slide the worn leather jacket on making the older woman scowl at the condition it was it. It looked ready to fall apart and noone bothered to ask her about it? To maybe even offer to help get another one? What kind of school did she go to? "Might as well." Sunset sighed as Velvet put an arm around her and led her out of the hospital. "I hope you feel better honey." Bright HEart said as Sunset passed her as they were leaving. "Thanks." Sunset said, "Have a Merry Christmas." "You too sweetheart." Bright Heart said before hurrying off. "I think we will need to make a stop on the way home." Velvet said as she helped Sunset get buckled in her husband's car. Thankfully she thought ahead of time and switched vehicles as she wasn't too sure if the girl would be able to pull herself up into the minivan. "What kind of stop?" Sunset asked, shifting nervously as Velvet got in the car herself and buckled up before starting the car. "To get you some clothes." Velvet smiled before pulling out on the street. "Cadence said that you didn't have a home in your interview." "I don't, and I only have a few changes of clothes, but I don't know what happened to them." Sunset admitted softly. "Well, then we will need to get you some new clothes. Especially a new jacket. No offense honey, but that thing doesn't look very warm." Velvet said as she pulled out onto a more busy street. "It's not, but it's all I have. Besides, it's kind of special to me." Sunset sighed, knowing that the jacket did resemble her original one. It wasn't though as it was one of the few birthday gifts she ever recieved since coming to this world. In fact, it was her first birthday gift that she gotten when she started dated Flash. While they did broke up, she still had feelings for him. Not romantic feelings, but feelings of friendship or even feelings similar to one she would have for a brother, but she couldn't bring herself to love him. "Well, we can get you a warmer one for now." Velvet said pulling up to a strip mall that had a clothing store that Sunset hadn't seen before. It was a litle surprising that Rarity or Fluttershy hadn't dragged her to this place as they seemed to do so everything they had the urge to shop. Something Sunset normally hated. "I don't have any money." Sunset sighed, wisghing she could get a warmer coat for winter. Maybe a scarf and gloves and maybe even some earmuffs. Shaking her head at her foolish wishful thinking she looked up to see Velvet already out of the car and having the passenger door open getting the seatbelt off of the teen. "Don't worry about money, we are getting you some warm things for winter and some outfits." Velvet said helping Sunset out of the car. If somebody could spontaneous combust, Sunset was sure she would have more than once over the hour they spent trying on different outfits. In the end Sunset had at the least ten new outfits as well as the coat, gloves, scarf and earmuffs. In fact she was wearing a pair of jeans and a sweater under them with winter boots instead of her normal boots when they left with her old clothes stuffed in a new bag. She also had plenty of new underwear that she couldn't really say she loved the design of, but was too embarrased to argue over them when Velvet asked her if she knew her size. XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX "So, what do you think about this Sunset Shimmer dad?" Twilight asked as she saw her father put the marker down on the large dry erase board wher ethere was numerous equations. She understood some of it, but not all of it as she didn't go into the field of study. Of course she was still in High School so that may have played a part in her not knowing much about the more complex equations, but she still studied some college courses on her own to prepare for a good school after she graduated. "What I think is that she's a fragile young woman who hit some bad times." Night Light said, cocking his head as he looked at the board with his arms crossed. "Yeah, but what kind of girl do you think she is? Do you think that we might become friends?" Twilight asked, finally earning her father's full attention. Not that he was ignoring her as he always made time for his little girl, but she knew that sometimes when he was in 'the zone' he could be a little hard to pull away from it. "Of course I think you two could be friends honey. I mean who wouldn't want to be your friend?" Night Light said moving over to the couch where he leaned over and kissed the top of her head. "Yeah, who would want to?" Twilight asked rolling her eyes. Sure she had three friends at Crystal Heart Academy, but for the most part she was a social outcast for being so much smarter than mst of them. She could have probably skipped a few grades, but Velvet wouldn't allow it thinking Twilight needed to experiance a normal childhood that Twilight was thankful for most of the time. She just wished she would have someone who was like a best friend, especially if it was someone as smart as her. "Honey, just because some people are too blind to see what a wonderful girl you are it doesn't mean everyone is." Night Light said with a smile, though he did feel bad for his daughter. "Do you think I should try and be..." Twilight said, trying to find the right word as Night Light sat down on the arm of the couch with a hand on her shoulder in a comforting manner. "Dumber?" "Be true to yourself Twilight and I'm sure everything will be fine." Night Light said as a car door could be heard from the garage. "It looks like they're here." "Yeah, maybe you should move your stuff to the study before mom gets in here." Twilight suggested, giggling at the look on her father's face. Velvet didn't like for work to br brought into the living room unless it was school work and a study group. "Maybe your right.." Night Light said as he started to head toward his work before a voice caught his attention. "Too late for that." Velvet said, her voice sounding a little stern. "Honey, we were just wondering when you was getting home." Night Light chuckled softly. "And we're home, Sunset I'd like you to meet my husband Night Light and daughter Twilight Sparkle." Velvet said softly, "This here is Sunset Shimmer and she will be staying with us." "Hellow Sunset, welcome to our home." Night Light said reaching out to shake her hand before Velvet pushed it down with a shake of her head making Night Light mentally kick himself. "Sorry about that." "It's fine." Sunset sighed. "Hi, I'm Twilight Sparkle." Twilight said nervously, smiling as Sunset while shifting nervously on her feet from wher eshe came to greet them. "Twilight, do you think you can show Sunset up to where she will be staying and help put her things away. Help her get her coat off to please." Velvet said, making Twilight smile and grab the bags from Velvet. "Sure thing mom." Twilight said leading Susnet away and up the stairs to her room. "How is she doing?" Night Light asked with worry as Velvet sighed and leaned back into his arms as he hugged her from behind. "She's hurting, but I don't think she plans on trying it again anytime soon. Still, I'm going to stay in her room for a few nights to make sure." Velvet sighed, "Honey, why do youhave that in here?" "I was working on it where I could be colse to greet you when you got home." Night LIght said in a thoughtful tone, "But I think I want to leave it there for now." "What are you talking about?" Velvet nearly growled, but Night Light kissed her cheek and squeezed a little. "Didn't you see her looking at it? She wasn't just curios, I think she understood it." Night Light said slowly, unsure if he was right. If he was though the girl could be another geniius like Twilight. Though instead of desiging things like Twilight, Sunset may be into the actual sciences like Night Light himself. "This isn't some ploy to keep your work in here is it?" Velvet asked in a somewhat cross tone. "Of course not honey." Night Light chuckled nervously. "Good, cause I'd have to find another way to punish you since I'm sleeping in the recliner tonight." Velvet teased as she pulled away from her husband. "I think I'll be calling for delivery tonight, be a dear and ask the girls if they want pizza or chinese." "Yes dear." Night Light replied, head hanging as he made his way to the stairs. XXXXXXXXX "I did'nt get this stuff." Sunset paniced a little as Twilight pulled out a couple necklaces, one with a sun and the other a cross from one of the bage with various shades and different types of makeup. She didn't pick those out and didn't even plan on buying half of the outfits that Velvet had insisted on buying her. She was a little worried that maybe Velvet picked up somebody else's bag by mistake. "No, it's here on the receipt." Twilight said pulling out the sales recietp and cjecking over it. "Mom probably thought they would look good on you so tossed them in when you weren't looking. She does stuff like that all the time." "How am I supposed to even put that on?" Sunset asked, showing her bandaged wrists. "Easy, either mom or me will help you." Twilight smiled as she put the necklaces on the dresser intending to get her a jewlery box for them from her room later. "I don't want you guys to go through even more trouble." Sunset sniffed wiping her eyes with the forearm of her sweater's sleeve. "Do you want to get that off? It's a little hot in here." Twilight said, blushing a little as she realized what she said and how it could have sounded. "I'd like that, I have a tshirt on under it." Sunset said as Twilight carefully helped the girl pull the sweater off and drop it off on the recliner. With a sigh of relief Sunset sat on the edge of the bed, looking up at Twilight who double checked to make sure everything was put up in their rightful places. "Are you going to be okay?" Twilight asked softly, shifting nervoulsy. Velvet had warned Twilight that somebody should be around Sunset most of the time for at least the first few days, if not longer. Whatever had happened, Velvet was sure it wasn't as simple as Sunset had claimed it to be. "Yeah, don't worry, I'm not stupid enough to try this twice." Sunset said, looking down at her wrist that was in her lap. "That's good." Twilight said moving over to sit next to Sunset and put an arm around her and lean her head agsinst the other girl's. "If you want to talk about it, I'll listen." "There's not much to talk about, all I had was my skirt and ripped up jacket. Either freeze to death or end it quickly." Sunset sighed out. squirming a little. "Hey girls, what do you want to eat tonight?" Night Light asked, getting the attention of both girls. "Pizza!" Twilight said happily while Sunset nervously mumbled at the same time, "Pizza." "Jinx, you owe me a soda!" Twilight cheered as she let Sunset go to turn and face her, pointing a finger. The look on Twilight's face was just so cute and funnythat Sunste couldn't help burst out laughing.