• Published 23rd Sep 2016
  • 1,411 Views, 33 Comments

As the World Falls Down - HudsonHawk



Sunset Shimmer tries to reach out and make amends to a boy she helped humiliate, who's doing something worse than trying to kill himself... living out of spite.

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Don't Laugh at Me

"I'm a little boy with glasses
The one they call the geek
A little girl who never smiles
'Cause I've got braces on my teeth
And I know how it feels
To cry myself to sleep..."
-Mark Wills, "Don't Laugh at Me"

Silver Screen plopped his algebra and history books in the bottom of his locker. While he didn't mind history class, especially learning where real life differed from the movie portrayals of said events, algebra was utter torture. While walking back to his locker, he tried in vain to figure out when he'd need to calculate the cosine of anything.

He opened up the top portion of his locker to reveal his little library. An action figure of Ash from Evil Dead stood in front of the novelizations lined up in back, chainsaw ready to slice up a Deadite. Finding a sizable gap, Silver set his copy of Maltin's movie guide between the novelizations for The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai and The Incredible Melting Man.

"Hi."

Silver turned. He saw... her. The purple shirt with the ornate sun. The knee high black boots with what looked like purple flames. The orange miniskirt with yellow and purple stripes. The studded leather jacket. The red and yellow hair that looked like a pile of delicious bacon. Those aqua eyes that filled him with mystery and wonder...

Why was Sunset Shimmer talking to him? Silver was pretty low on the social totem pole, as far as he knew. Someone as popular as Sunset Shimmer normally ignored him. Why did she decide to suddenly start speaking to him?

"Hi?" Silver responded, cautious.

"Nice locker." Sunset said, looking at the top portion. "Like the library. Real movie nerd, huh?"

"Yeah." Silver responded. "I love horror and sci-fi. Guess with a name like mine, it's only fitting that I'd be really into it."

"Who's this guy?" Sunset asked, picking up Ash and examining him.

"That's Ash, from the Evil Dead movies." Silver replied, nervous as hell.

"Why does he have a chainsaw for a hand?"

"The evil got into his hand and it went bad, so he lopped it off with that chainsaw and attached it to the stump."

"Ooohhhkayyy..." She deapanned as she put Ash back. She then leaned against the open locker door, arms folded, her eyes half-lidded.

"I don't think I got your name." Sunset said.

"Uhh... Silver... Silver Screen..." Silver replied, sweating like Jimmy Savile in a McDonald's Playland. "No need to ask who you are."

"My reputation precedes me?"

"Who doesn't know who you are? You're the most popular girl in this school... which raises the question of why you're talking to a nobody like me."

"I thought that what you did for that Babs kid was sweet."

"I saw you laughing from your locker, Sunset. You were enjoying it."

Sunset turned on the charm and began to go to town. "I thought about it later, and I was wrong to enjoy it. I wanted to show you how sweet I thought it was by inviting you to a party tonight."

Silver gulped. "A p-p-party?"

Sunset batted her eyes at him, making him blush brightly. "Just a little get together. No booze or drugs or anything like that. Jail time just isn't me. So... can you make it over to my house tonight?"

Silver froze. His heart began to race as he argued with himself. On one hand, this girl was a bully, plain and simple. She had lied, cheated, stolen, and belittled others. The likelihood of her changing in any way was slim, and the fact that she was showing any interest in a dumpy guy such as himself was a red flag, But on the other hand, there was still a chance that she could have changed. How would he know if he didn't give her a chance? Besides, maybe her supposed change... her interest... maybe it was real. All she needed was a chance to show it.

"I can make it." Silver said.

"Great!" Sunset said, a small grin on her face. She pulled out a piece of paper and handed it to Silver. "Here's my address. I look forward to seeing you there, Silver."

Sunset sashayed away, leaving Silver alone, stunned. He couldn't believe this was happening. It took him a moment to realize that a: he was still at school when he should be at home, and b: he was standing there like a total idiot looking at a piece of paper. Slipping it into the pocket of his garish Hawaiian shirt, Silver walked out the front doors of Canterlot High and started home.


The purple dusk of twilight was in full bloom as Silver's battered green Vespa sputtered to a stop outside 1428 Elm Street, taking a spot behind a red Ferrari with the not ostentatious at all license plate "BTRTHNU." Silver killed the engine, dismounted and made a quick once-over of himself in the Ferrari's side-mirror: his hair was combed into a semblance of a neat hairstyle, his black button-down shirt was free of hair and dust. He looked down: his nice jeans had no rips or tears, his belt was through all the loops and secured with a belt buckle depicting the desert and twin moons of Arrakis from David Lynch's "Dune," and his faithful black hi-tops were tied tightly and neatly.

"People are bastards, every one of them. They'll always hurt you in the end."

"Shut up, you." Silver said to himself. "You're not ruining this for me."

He reached into the pocket of his jean jacket and pulled out the corsage he had bought: a small black rose. He hoped that Sunset would like it. Gathering his courage, he started toward the modest two-story home, whistling "The Dream" with a spring in his step.

Taking a deep breath to steel his faltering nerves, Silver pushed the doorbell. His heart pounded and the flop sweat flowed when Sunset answered the door, an R and B beat emanating from the room behind her.

It took all of Silver's will power to not run off in fright.

In addition to her ever-present leather jacket, Sunset was wearing a scarlet cocktail dress that accentuated her many curves and as much cleavage as you could get from a B or C-cup. Her red eye shadow and scarlet lipstick helped to draw attention to her luscious lips and gorgeous teal eyes. The red high-heels completed the ensemble effectively. She was a vision of beauty, a study of scarlet sexiness... and Silver was having a hard time not dropping to his knees and declaring himself not worthy of the goddess before him.

"Silver? Earth to Silver?" Sunset said, waving a hand in front of his eyes.

"Errrr...." was all that Silver could muster in reply. A subsequent shaking of his shoulders brought him back to reality.

"Like what you see?" Sunset asked, a sly smile on her face.

"Yes, ma'am." Silver replied, part of him still miles away.

"Ooh, and polite. I like that." Sunset said as she took him by the hand and led him inside, Silver grinning like an idiot as Sunset led him through her living room, into her kitchen and out the back into her backyard.

The party was in full swing as Silver and Sunset stepped into the backyard. A large ghettoblaster was set up on a patio table, blasting music from the iPod connected to it. Next to it, a large table was set up with Combos, cold cuts, crackers, cheese and other snacks.

Silver took a quick look around and could recognize a few of the partygoers: there was Truffle Shuffle, a rather rotund kid he shared math class with, chowing down rather noisily and messily on Combos. He was oblivious to the disgust of his date, a rich girl named Upper Crust. Twist, a sweet girl with an oddly adorable lisp, was offering one of her homemade peppermint candies to her date, the snooty Jet Set. He reluctantly accepted, popped it in his mouth... then his expression changed to one of near orgasmic bliss.

Something was odd here...

"Silver!" Sunset shouted, derailing his train of thought and killing all 200 passengers aboard.

"Yeah?" Silver asked.

"Can I take a selfie with you?"

"Sure."

Sunset got out her phone, pulled Silver close, put her arm around him and looked at the camera.

"Smile!"

Silver did so as the flash went off. He stood there, dazed and momentarily blinded. As the spots in front of his eyes faded, he saw Sunset finish fiddling with her phone and slip it into her jacket pocket. It was then that he remembered...

"Uh... I have something for you, Sunset..." Silver said, reaching into his pocket and pulling out the black rose corsage. Sunset's eyes widened.

"It's... It's beautiful..." Sunset said as she moved the left part of her jacket over enough for a trembling Silver to pin it on the strap of her dress.

Silver was so nervous... so concentrated on the task at hand... he didn't notice the two boys coming up behind him... didn't notice the large container of Gatorade they had... not until they overturned it over Silver's head.

A cascade of something incredibly rancid smelling poured out of the container and splashed all over Silver. A shocked Silver dropped the corsage as the substance oozed down and underneath his shirt. He tried to breathe through his mouth to avoid the stench, but that only allowed some of it to get in his mouth, and he started to gag. As the substance made its way down his pants, he turned around.

Snips and Snails, Sunset's muscle, were holding an empty Gatorade container, evil grins on their faces. Soon, he heard clapping as a smug-faced white-skinned blond boy walked out of the back door of the house, a huge grin on his face.

"How fitting." Blueblood said. "Dog food for the ultimate dog."

Silver spat out a bit of dog food that got into his mouth. "What?"

"You really thought that Sunset would willingly invite a loser like you to a party with other losers?" Blueblood said, a slasher smile spreading on his face. "Please. I told her to invite you. You see, we were having a dogfight."

"A... dogfight...?" Silver asked, hurt.

"Yeah. The ugliest date wins." Sunset replied, looking at him with contempt. "Guess what, Silver? YOU WON!"

Sunset and Blueblood started laughing at Silver... and they weren't the only ones...

Upper Crust was laughing so hard that tears were falling down her face, currently being covered in bits of half-eaten Combos by Truffle Shuffle, who was laughing just as loud and just as hard. Jet Set was guffawing like Ed McMahon in response to a particularly good Johnny Carson zinger. Twist, however, wasn't laughing. She looked... sympathetic? She turned around and snatched away the bag of peppermints from Jet Set before storming off in anger and disgust. Jet Set, at the loss of what were presumably the best sweets he'd ever eaten, hung his head in shame.

Even Snips and Snails were laughing. In their case, they were laughing so hard that they had to hold on to each other to keep from falling over. Unfortunately, it turned out to be in vain. They toppled over the dropped Gatorade container on the ground, still laughing like hyenas.

"You see, Silver..." Sunset started as she got into his face, "...you shouldn't have gotten involved with the fun Bluey here was having with the Seed girl." She ran a finger up his neck and across his jawline. "It's not your place to get involved. It's your place to stand there and take what you deserve."

Silver felt someone grab him by the front of his shirt and turn him around. It was Blueblood, a look of smug triumph on his face.

"Hey Silvy..." Blueblood started. "Do you know your place now, loser?"

"People are bastards, every one of them. They'll always hurt you in the end. Get it now? You can't trust them."

Tears started flowing down Silver's face. This did not go unnoticed.

"He's gonna cry!" Blueblood gloated. "Gonna cry, you little bitch? Don't you dare cry, you needed to learn your place."

Silver bolted for the back door. He needed to get away... get away from everyone... from everything... he was right... the son of a bitch was right after all... you can't trust anyone...

SPLAT!

Silver felt something hit his back. He turned his head... and he felt a glob of dog food hit him in the face.

"Dog food for the dog!" Sunset started chanting. "Dog food for the dog!"

The guests started to grab globs of dog food and chuck them at Silver. Thankfully, he managed to dodge most of them: by the time the full fledged assault had started, he had made it into Sunset's kitchen, and nobody dared make a mess out of her house.

Silver bolted through the living room and out the front door, the school's ruling class and the bacon-haired succubus on his heels. As he jumped on his Vespa, he heard Sunset yell "In case you're thinking of trying something like egging this place, forget it! It's not my house! You think I'd show a loser like you my actual house?"

The resulting cackle was drowned out of Silver's ears by the noise of the motor. He turned and gunned it, sending his faithful motor scooter down the street and toward home... away from the humiliation... away from the pain... away from the she-bitch...

A couple blocks away, Silver pulled the Vespa over. As soon as the engine died, Silver covered his face in his hands and started to sob as his emotions hit the breaking point.

He had been right all along... people were bastards... all they wanted to do was screw you... and Silver had been so blind. He honestly thought that Sunset may have reformed... that she may have...

Yeah, right.

The thought that any girl in her right mind would have even been interested in him was as laughable in retrospect as the thought of Truffle Shuffle sticking to a diet. And even Truffle Shuffle laughed at him...

No. He couldn't let them win... he had to toughen up.

"The boy's gotta toughen up. The world's a cruel place."

He'd show them all... Blueblood, Snips, Snails... the succubus... he'd show them. He'd come in tomorrow and show them that they weren't going to affect him at all. No, he'd act like nothing happened. If he didn't let it bother him, then he'd take the fun out of it for them.

At least, he hoped.

Author's Note: