The Soul's Savior

by Dusty Old Qrow

Chapter 2: Asthenia

Author's Note:

Here's the rewritten chapter 2. Some of this may conflict with later parts of the story, since I'm changing stuff around.
-Qrow

Title song:

Despite the extraordinary events of the night, for Time Turner it ended in a much more mundane manner. He drove home, exited his car, and found himself sitting on his porch gazing at the night sky, a common occurrence for the teacher.

Blimey, he thought to himself. What a night.

Turner rested his elbows on his knees and sighed. He was not looking forward to the coming weeks. No doubt that the student body would be rambunctious, though all things considered he couldn’t blame them. He was also not looking forward to finding a way to explain the gigantic crater in front of the school. He didn’t envy being Principal Celestia at the moment.

His house was a handful of blocks away from the school, which made the commute to and from it much easier. The street he lived on, being close to the school, also housed quite a few of his students. Most nights he would see a few of them about, hanging out either by themselves or with friends, and sometimes they would stop for a chat. Talking with them tended to be the highlight of his night.

With a hefty breath Turner rose to his feet, just in time for his phone to ring. He grabbed it out of his pocket and looked at the screen. “Berry Punch.” He said, his lips forming a straight line. He answered the call and raised the phone to his ear. “Hello?”

“Turner! What the hell is going on?!”

“Good evening to you too, Berry.”

“Don’t start with me. The neighbors’ kids are going around telling stories about explosions at the school! Tell me what happened!”

Turner pinched the bridge of his nose. This was what he was afraid of. “I’m… afraid the story’s complicated-”

“Then uncomplicate it! The dance was tonight! My daughters were there! They aren’t picking up their phones - are they alright?!”

“I can assure you that Derpy and Dinky are just fine. What happened was - was-” Turner sputtered. “There was… an altercation… between a group of students and Sunset Shimmer.” He regretted saying her name as soon as the words left his lips.

“That Shimmer girl! What did she do? Did she cause the explosion?”

“Berry, please, calm down. There was an explosion yes, but….” Turner racked his mind for a reasonable explanation, one that didn’t boil down to magical aliens, but nothing came up. “I’m afraid I’m not at liberty to say.”

“Don’t you dare say that to me!”

“Berry, please, be calm-”

“My daughters could have been hurt! Your-”

“I talked to Derpy and Dinky myself. They’re fine. They’re happy and unharmed, I assure you. Principal Celestia will no doubt have an explanation for all the parents by tomorrow.”

“She’d better.”

“Alrighty then, if we’re done here, I’m going to go to bed. Have a lovely night, Berry Punch.” Without waiting for a response, Turner slid his finger across the screen and hung up. With a sigh, he shook his head and turned towards the door. How I managed to survive growing up with her, I’ll never know. Berry Punch’s anger was not unjustified, Turner knew. But after the events of the night, he just wanted to go to bed.

With a final, extended look at the night sky, Time Turner opened the door and entered his home.

---

Turns out, having a good cry can make you feel much better.

Granted, she still felt terrible, but “terrible” was a step up from “absolutely horrible”, Sunset felt.

Progress on the wall was slow going. Between her, Snips, and Snails, the three of them barely made any meaningful progress. There’s no way Principal Celestia honestly expects us to do this alone, Sunset thought. Or at least, she hoped. It was much less of a punishment than she deserved, but still not one she wanted to go through.

None of them felt like talking at the moment, so the three of them worked in silence, which was fine by Sunset. She couldn’t tell if she wanted to be alone or not, but being with someone in silence felt good enough, so she kept her mouth shut and didn’t say a word.

Snips and Snails made sure to keep their distance. After her crying fit was over, they had slowly made their way away from Sunset, which she couldn’t blame them for. She didn’t want to be around her either. But the distance and silence left Sunset alone with her thoughts. Thoughts like I shouldn’t be doing this, and I don’t deserve this.

I don’t deserve this.

She didn’t deserve this. They were being far too nice. Sunset Shimmer had done horrible things. Torn apart friendships. Ruined lives. She’d broken every rule and gotten away scott-free. And then she blows up the school and the worst punishment she gets is “make friends”. Some people would be elated at such a light punishment. Sunset wished they’d throw her in jail.

Princess Twilight’s friends really were something else. After everything she’d done to them, they promised the princess that they’d watch over her, help her. Sunset didn’t know exactly what that meant, but it was more than she deserved regardless.

Sunset heard footsteps - a new pair, not from Snips and Snails. The boys seemed to have heard it, too, since they put down their trowels and turned to look at the newcomer. She turned and her heart froze, because walking up the front steps of Canterlot High was one of the girls she had tried to kill earlier that night. Rainbow Dash.

Sunset couldn’t read the athlete’s face as she arrived on the top step. Rainbow Dash’s expression was one of complete neutrality, with no trace of anger or any other emotion. She stood there without saying a word for a few seconds, her magenta eyes locked with Sunset’s.

Suddenly, she turned to Snips and Snails. “Hey.” Rainbow Dash said cooly. Principal Celestia told me to tell you three to go home.” At her words, the tension in the air that had been between Sunset and the boys seemed to vanish. Snips and Snails let out a cheer and wrapped an arm around each others’ shoulders.

“Thanks, Rainbow Dash!”

“Yeah, thanks!”

Rainbow nodded at them and watched as they ran down the stairs and into the night. Sunset watched them go, a small smile on her lips before she realized she was now alone with Rainbow Dash. The smile vanished in an instant.

Again they stood in silence. The cool night air sent a chill through Sunset’s body, the various holes and tears in her jacket doing her no favors against the cold air. As she shivered she saw Rainbow Dash’s eyes flicker down at her clothes and then back up to her face. Sunset saw some kind of emotion flash through Rainbow’s features, but what emotion it was she couldn’t say.

Rainbow Dash cleared her throat. “You need me to take you home?” She said curtly.

Sunset blinked. “What?”

The other girl rolled her eyes. “I’m asking if you need me to take you home.”

“... Why?” Not that I’m not grateful or anything…

Rainbow Dash crossed her arms. “Look, Sunset, I’m not going to pretend that everything’s fine. Because it’s not. You really hurt us. A lot.”

Sunset winced and took a step back. “I’m sorry....”

“I know you are. And I think I could find it in myself to forgive you. So, right now, I want to keep the promise I made to Princess Twilight. She asked us to watch you. So I’m going to do that. Do you need me to take you home?”

Sunset didn’t know what to say. She felt tears stinging at the corners of her eyes again, but she blinked them away. She opened her mouth to reply, but then closed it again. I don’t deserve this, she thought again. Not after everything I did.

“I…” Sunset began. “I appreciate this, Rainbow Dash. But....” The rest of the words refused to leave Sunset’s mouth.

Rainbow Dash cocked an eyebrow and shifted her weight. “But what? Look, it’s getting cold and I don’t want to be out here more than I have to. So, what’s it gonna be?”

“You see…”

“Spit it out already!”

Sunset shut her eyes tightly. “I’m homeless!”

With her eyes closed, Sunset couldn’t see Rainbow Dash’s reaction, but with no audible reply from her, she figured that the athlete was stunned into silence. After a few seconds of nothing, Sunset gingerly opened an eye, and upon seeing Rainbow looking normal, opened the other.

“... Rainbow Dash?”

Rainbow Dash shook her head. “How the hell does that work? Wouldn’t the school check the address? Try to call your parents? Anything?”

Sunset shrugged. “I don’t know. I just put down an address and everything worked out fine. No one questioned it at all.”

Rainbow Dash stomped the ground. “Well, shit. So you’ve just been sleeping, what, on the streets or something?”

Sunset rubbed at her arms, trying to stave off the cold. “It’s… a factory, I guess. Some sort of industrial place. I found it, no one’s ever bothered me. It’s abandoned.”

Rainbow Dash hummed to herself. “Guessing it’s on the other side of town, then. Lots of rundown buildings there. Right?” At Sunset’s nod, she continued, “Well, double shit. Wait here for a sec. I’m gonna make a call.” Before Sunset could even open her mouth, Rainbow Dash turned, whipped out her phone, and walked down the stairs, far enough away so that Sunset couldn’t eavesdrop.

Instead of wasting time trying to decipher what was being said, Sunset elected to simply sit down instead. She plopped herself onto the top step and waited for Rainbow Dash to finish her call. Occasionally she peeked a glimpse and saw Rainbow Dash gesturing wildly as if in an argument, or maybe a heated discussion, but looked away soon after.

It was a few minutes later when Sunset heard Rainbow Dash hang up and walk back to her. She lifted her head to watch Rainbow Dash approach, then stood as she began talking. “Alright, well,” Rainbow Dash began. “I managed to figure something out. You’re staying with Applejack tonight.”

Her words made Sunset’s blood run cold. “What?! N-no, that can’t- I can’t-”

Rainbow Dash raised a hand, cutting her off. “Save it. It’s been decided and I’m not letting you run back to that factory. It’s way too cold. Applejack’s house has a spare bed you can use tonight, though Applejack made me very aware that she doesn’t want you anywhere near Apple Bloom.”

Sunset nodded vigorously. “O-okay. Done. Thanks for setting this up. I… I don’t know how-”

“Don’t.” Rainbow Dash spat. “Listen, Sunset. Applejack’s pissed. I’m pissed. But we made a promise and we intend to keep it. It’ll take some time for us to get used to this. But just because I’m pissed, doesn’t mean I’m going to let someone sleep out in the cold if I can do anything about it.”

Sunset could only stare at the other girl, and admired the way her magenta eyes sparked with determination.

“Now, all we gotta do is wait for Applejack to pick you up.”

Comments

[Black_Knight]

If I remember correctly the previous version, Rainbow was a lot harsher when she spoke to Sunset and Sunset actually fled, not wanting to admit she was homeless, and had had Rainbow to chase her and force her to reveal her why before then calling AJ.

I do like the fact here Rainbow is a lot less antagonising, though I think I would prefer that again Sunset would fled not wanting to feel more shameful, or at least be more unwanting to speak about it.

Nonetheless it's a good rewrite, only this little titbit to correct.

They boys seemed to have heard it,

The

[chris the cynic]

Nice to see an update to this, even if it confused me all to Hell when I saw this had updated, clicked on what I thought was the last chapter, and it was one from 2017. One of the beauties of how Fimfiction handles replacement vs. edits, I suppose. The changes here are pretty extensive, so I can see why one would opt for replacement.

So, looking at the changes . . .

The phone call's new, and introduces Derpy, Ditzy and especially Berry much earlier, which is a good thing.

Crimson Napalm's gone entirely. That keeps things way more subdued, and makes me wonder if his later appearances are going to stay in, or be edited out as well. Him being gone eliminates the part where Rainbow stood up for Sunset . . . and also the part where she flat out said she hates Sunset.

I like having Sunset just come out and say it instead of trying to run away and having Rainbow run her down. I also like that Rainbow presents the ride home as an offer instead of a demand.

With the cuts and the changes, I think the new chapter two gets us to about the halfway point of the old chapter three.

Last random note: the revised Snips and Snails actually waited until they'd been dismissed, unlike their pre-revision counterparts.