Scars
Take my hand, Twilight. Let me show you there's another way. Just like someone once did for me.
I sat straight up in my bed, covered in sweat. Daydream Shimmer's words still echoing in my head. It had been a little over two weeks since the Friendship Games and I continued to have the same nightmare every night. I was so selfish in my research of the magic that the girls possessed, that it completely consumed my body and soul.
"You okay, Twilight?" Spike asked as he jumped on the bed.
"I don't know Spike," I cried as I held him close to me. "I don't know."
"Why don't you talk to the girls about your dreams?" he whispered softly.
"Do you really think they'll be able to help me?" I sniffed.
"It's worth a shot," he replied.
"Okay, Spike," I sighed. "I'll ask them."
I joined my friends after school the next day for a picnic beside the Wondercolt statue. It actually felt great having a group of friends to hang out with instead of being shut up in a dorm all day.
"Who's turn is it to host the next slumber party?" Pinkie Pie asked.
"I believe it's Sunset's turn," Rarity replied enthusiastically.
"Mine? I thought it was Rainbow Dash's turn," Sunset protested.
"What?! I hosted the last one," Rainbow Dash grumbled.
"Actually, Rarity's right," Applejack confirmed. "We ain't been ta yer place since after th' Battle of th' Bands."
"Fine..." Sunset relented.
"Sunset Shimmer, did I do something to you?" I accidentally blurted out, earning seven puzzled looks in my direction. (1)
"What do you mean?" Sunset asked me.
"Well, everyone else doesn't seem to be uncomfortable around me," I stated. "The rest of our friends have no problem approaching me and starting a conversation but for some reason, you always seem to avoid me."
Spike and the girls turned their focus towards Sunset Shimmer to await her answer. However, no answer came. Sunset nonchalantly stood up without saying a word and headed inside the school.
"What did I say?" I asked.
I stood outside Sunset Shimmer's apartment with Spike, a brand new sleeping bag and a new set of pajamas in my backpack. My first sleepover with my new friends and it's at the one person's home that doesn't seem to like me.
"Go ahead and knock, Twilight," Spike urged.
"I don't know, Spike," I hesitated. "Sunset Shimmer doesn't really seem to like me that much. I think I might be making a mistake by being here."
Spike just groaned as I turned around to head back to the parking lot. I almost made my way back to mom's car when I was ambushed by Pinkie Pie.
"Hey, Twilight! You know you're going the wrong way because Sunset's apartment is in the building behind you not in the parking lot in front of you," she rambled.
"I know, Pinkie Pie," I replied. "I don't think I'm ready to do this though."
"Oh, you'll be fine, Twilight," she reassured me. "Stick by me if you feel uncomfortable. I don't know if you know this but we were pretty mean to Sunset when she became our friend but we're not gonna make that same mistake with you because you're nice and you remind us of 'pony' Twilight-"
"Wait! Pony Twilight?" I interrupted.
"Yeah! That girl that came out of the statue the other day, she's actually not a human but a pony princess," Pinkie Pie explained. "So I call you Twilight and her 'pony' Twilight. It keeps me from getting confused so c'mon and let's go have ourselves a slumber party!"
After my pep talk, Pinkie Pie, Spike and I all headed back toward the apartment building.
I didn't sleep very well that night, waking up at almost every single noise but one noise, in particular, caused me to get out of my sleeping bag. It was Sunset Shimmer talking to herself while stumbling down the hallway toward the bathroom. I stealthily followed behind her and pressed myself against the wall outside the bathroom door while I listened to her ramble inside.
"Why do y-you have to-to be this way?" she quietly said as she bawled. "You've changed but... but why can't you treat Twilight with... with respect? She's done nothing to you."
I felt guilty about eavesdropping but I couldn't believe what I was hearing. One part of me said I should go back to bed but another part of me said I should go in and check on her. Taking a deep breath, I decided on the latter. I turned the doorknob to check if it was unlocked, and sure enough, it opened.
I was horrified at the scene in front of me. Sunset Shimmer had tears streaming from her eyes, a pocket knife in her hand and two freshly made cuts in each arm to go along with numerous scars that I had never paid much attention to before then.
"Sunset? Who are you talking to?" I asked as I tried processing the scene in front of me.
"I... I'm... nobody..." she wept.
"Are you okay?" I asked softly.
"I don't know, Twilight. I'm pretty messed up," she told me.
"Messed up? From what?" I inquired as I knelt down beside her.
"You know that girl that's a pony? I'm actually a unicorn from the same world as her," Sunset told me as tears continued to fill her eyes.
"Really?" I asked with wonder.
"Yes. I've been here for around three years. The first two and a half years I'm not proud of," she said as she wiped her eyes.
"Why? What did you do?"
"Well, I, uh, I bullied everyone in Canterlot High, mostly Fluttershy, um, broke up friendships... I was an all-around bad person," Sunset reflected.
Were my ears deceiving me? That explained why she acted the way she did during the Friendship Games. This also exactly what I needed after eleven years of being bullied, another bully in my life. She must've seen the look of anguish in my eyes because she began to break down again.
"I'm... I'm so, so sorry, Twilight. I-I've been a-a terrible friend to you," Sunset cried. "You-you don't deserve t-to have me as..."
I couldn't take it anymore. Even with blood leaking from her arms, I pulled Sunset into a tight embrace so she could let her emotions flow. I tried to emulate what Shiny used to do when I would get hurt and cry in his arms by holding Sunset's head against my shoulder and whispering, "Shhhh. It'll be okay."
"How... how can you be so... so sure, Twilight?" she asked.
"Because if you were still that bad person, Applejack, Rarity, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Spike and I wouldn't want to be friends with you," I assured her.
"I-I guess you-*sniff*-you're right, Twilight," Sunset whispered.
"Do you always cut yourself like this?" I asked as I held her slightly away from my body to look at her arms.
"Only if I-I feel hurt. I-I started doing it, *sniff*, a couple months ago during the... the Battle of the Bands," Sunset explained.
"Why?"
"I couldn't handle the amount of emotional pain I was feeling and just began cutting myself as an outlet. I came close to... to..." Sunset began to cry again before she finished.
"That explains all the scars I saw on your arm during the Friendship Games Welcome Party," I said as she leaned back into my shoulder to resume her outpouring of emotion.
"Mmhmm."
"Are you having those same feelings from a few months ago?" I asked gently.
She was crying so hard that she could only answer with a nod of her head.
"How about we try starting over again, Sunset?" I asked softly.
After another couple minutes of crying, she leaned back, looked me in the eyes and nodded her head once more.
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Does Sunset's other friends know about the scars? I know 'pony Twilight' doesn't or there would have been a serious intervention. I'm also guessing that no one else knows about those scars? How does Spike not know about those scars?
8165927 They learned about Sunset cutting herself about halfway through A Time For Redemption (Book 2: Ch. 3). 'Pony' Twilight was the one that brought it to the attention of the other five "off-screen" between Ch. 2 & 3 after Sunset poured her heart out on the phone at the end of Book 2: Ch 2.
8165970 Actually, I thought Twilight only saw Sunset cutting her wrist at the beginning of chapter 3. As far as I knew, she never showed them her other cuts. And I think they were too busy to notice them while fighting the sirens.
8166142 That's the downside to having multiple stories in a series. You tend to forget what got written where.
8166142
Twilight made sunset show them
That got real all of a sudden.
11 years? Has Twilight been bullied before attending Crystal Prep?
10618511
Yep.
Did you think Double Danger bullied her when she immediately shifted the school for only one year? She was clearly in CPA for longer than that.