Live By The Sword...

by redandready45

Hesitation (Edited 7/21/20)

"I've been thinking about transferring," Sunset uttered, glancing down at her plate and the remains of her salad with a sigh.

"What?" Applejack asked in disbelief.

Applejack and Sunset sat in Cherry's restaurant. After Sunset and Applejack's reconciliation sleepover, the two met every Friday afternoon here. The meeting helped Sunset keep up to date on events at Canterlot High and how Sunset's reputation was faring (which had gone from "very bad" to "bad" according to Applejack). The two also talked about girl's stuff and what was happening in their lives.

Sunset cherished these meetings. They gave her some semblance of a social life. But Sunset had come into the dinner looking unusually gloomy, and Applejack gently asked her why.

"I don't think I can make a fresh start at CHS," Sunset said sadly. "I've been thinking about transferring to another school. I mean, I have a vandalism charge on my record. But my GPA is high enough that maybe I can get into a really good-"

"Sunset," Applejack interrupted, "what's gotten into you? A few days ago, you were gushing about how Monday was gonna be a fresh start for you." Sunset looked at her sleeve in shame. "Sunset? What happened?" Applejack asked in a soothing tone.

"I got...an E-mail the other day," Sunset said with a whimper. "The E-mail said....'come back and die'." Applejack narrowed her eyes in anger. "And it had a picture of my head photoshopped onto a skeleton," Sunset continued with a whimper.

"Sunset, whoever sent you that was a troll," Applejack said with a wave of her hand. "Since I've been on the Internet, all kinds of idiots and perverts have said horrible things to me online, but none of them have tried to do anything to me in person. Most of them are just yellow-bellied cowards who hide behind their keyboards."

"Well it isn't any worse than what people were putting on my MyStable after the Fall Formal," Sunset said with a shiver. "The cyberbullying got so bad, I had to close my account." Sunset looked down. "Even your own brother...threatened to kill me."

"Big Mac apologized for that," Applejack said reassuringly. "He admitted he went too far while trying to lay down the law to you, and didn't actually mean it."

"The point is your brother is one of the nicest guys ever and I hurt him badly enough that he made those threats," Sunset said quietly. "If he is was that furious at me, what do you think everyone else will do?"

Sunset once again fell into despair, but her spirits were lifted by Applejack putting a warm hand on hers.

"Sugar cube," Applejack said in a reassuring tone. "People were only making those threats to you when they were fuming at you. Since then, they've stopped fuming at you."

"Because I haven't been at CHS in weeks aside from my community service," Sunset said with dread. "And I've only worked nights where nobody can see. I know the second I put one toe in school, the only thing that might save me from instant death is everyone fighting over who gets the honor to kill me."

"You could try...digging up some dirt on them to protect herself," Applejack said. Sunset narrowed her eyes and gritted her teeth.

"Even if I wanted to do that," Sunset said with disgust, "it wouldn't help me. I am already on thin ice with the faculty. If the teachers knew I went back to blackmailing people, they would toss me out of the school in a heartbeat." Sunset let out a melancholy frown. "Even if I could get away with blackmail, it would only show everyone that I haven't changed at all." Sunset let out another sigh.

"You got Big Mac to come around," Applejack said.

"Well, no one else has," Sunset said sadly, "including your friends."

"Pinkie Pie did," Applejack said defensively.

"Pinkie Pie doesn't count," Sunset said with a sad smile. "She likes being friends with everybody." Sunset used to think Pinkie Pie's unrelenting magnanimity and cheerfulness were just a façade and that Pinkie was, like herself, a remorseless schemer in private.

---

Pinkie Pie was working in the school bakery, stirring the batter for the cake the hockey team would eat. A forceful tap on the shoulder distracted her from her work.

"YEEESSSSSS!" Pinkie Pie said. She turned her head to see the frowny face of Sunset Shimmer.

"Shimmie," Pinkie Pie said cheerfully. "How's it going?" Sunset Shimmer's frown got even deeper.

"What. Is. Your. Game?" Sunset asked with greeted teeth and balled fists.

"Game?" Pinkie Pie chirped. "Well, my favorite games are hopscotch, trivia, Candyland, bin-" Pinkie Pie's rambling was interrupted when Sunset seized her by her apron, and pulled the pink girl so that both their noses were touching.

"Cut the horseapples!" Sunset bellowed. "You left a vanilla cake in front of my locker!" Pinkie Pie's smile turned into a frown and her lip began quivering. Sunset picked up on Pinkie Pie's mood and let out a victorious grin. "Oh, so you were planning-,"

"I'm sorry," Pinkie Pie said with wet eyes. "I should've known you didn't like vanilla."

"What?"

"You wanted a chocolate cake," Pinkie Pie said sadly. "No wonder you're so...pouty. I promise-"

"Enough," Sunset shouted, releasing Pinkie Pie. "Why did you really bake me a cake?!"

"To congratulate you for winning the Junior Scholars' contest," Pinkie Pie said cheerfully. Sunset still looked unimpressed.

"Yeah right," Sunset said with incredulity, "you baked me a cake just for that." She then narrowed her eyes again. "What was in the cake?! Laxative? Nails? Poison?"

"I've never heard of a poison cake before," Pinkie Pie said obliviously. "Poison isn't very tasty. Also, it is very poisonous." Sunset looked at the pink girl with utter disbelief. "All my cakes have sugar, butter, flour-"

"I don't know what your playing at, Pie," Sunset screeched. "But I will find out! I've got my eyes on you 24/7!"

"But if you watched me all that time," Pinkie babbled, "how would you watch TV, or play video games, or do homework, or-" Sunset let another annoyed yell and stormed off in a rage. Pinkie Pie watched her with some confusion.

"Next time, chocolate," Pinkie Pie said to herself. She returned to her bowl and began stirring.

---

Sunset waited for Pinkie to spring something on her. But when the party girl didn't, Sunset thought Pinkie Pie was just some sentimental idiot and ruined her friendships out of nothing but pure spite. But even that didn't stop Pinkie Pie from being cheerful and kind toward others. Day after day, Pinkie tried to make sure everyone at CHS had fun despite her own personal life taking a nosedive.

Even after turning into a demon, even after Pinkie knew Sunset was the one who trashed her friendships, the pink girl still did something nice for her at her second sleepover with Applejack.

---

"So what are we doing tonight, Applejack?" Sunset asked the farmer girl as they walked to the girl's bedroom.

"Well," Applejack said with a cheeky smile. "The truth is, it is a surprise." Sunset shrugged her shoulders and opened the door to Applejack's room. To her shock, she saw a smiling Pinkie Pie inside. She was wearing pink pajamas and holding a chocolate cake.

"Pinkie Pie? What are you doing here?" Sunset asked with astonishment.

"I wanted to throw you a 'thanks for not being evil and turning good' party," Pinkie Pie said. "I baked this cake for you." Sunset stood there, staring dumbly at the party girl.

"But why?" Sunset asked, her voice choked up. "You were nice to me and I was always so-" Sunset paused, trying to control the waterworks. Pinkie Pie set down the cake and walked over to Sunset with kind eyes.

"Because life is too short to be mean and angry," Pinkie Pie said, her silly voice becoming slightly less excitable and more solemn. "Because everyone deserves to be happy and have friends." Sunset began sniffling a bit.

"Even me?" Sunset asked, biting her lip to control herself.

"Especially you."

Sunset finally lost control, and broke down in tears. The pink girl wrapped up the fire-haired girl in a warm hug and gave her several pats on the back. Sunset wept and wept, pausing only to say "sorry." Applejack watched this from outside the room with a happy smile.

---

Sunset once thought Pinkie was a stupidest person ever. Now Sunset realized that Pinkie was the strongest person she ever met.

"Your other friends haven't said one word to me," Sunset said with some resignation. "And I really can't blame them. Most people aren't like you or Pinkie." Sunset said with a sigh. "You've made me feel like I belong somewhere Applejack. But this E-mail reminds me of the hole I've dug myself into."

"Sunset, remember how hard it was for you to clear that field," Applejack said.

"Applejack," Sunset said with frustration, putting her palm on her face. "Please don't-,"

"It was hard, painful, and backbreaking," Applejack said. "But we finally got it done after four days. Think of going back to school and making things right with everybody as the field you have to clear."

"Applejack, I'm not going into a school full of plants," Sunset said with dismay. "I'm going to a school full of angry teenagers who rightfully hate me-at BEST! Even the teachers hate me! Even the most socially inept people don't have the teachers hating them. Heck, socially inept people like the teachers. How bad to you have to be-"

"OK, now you're just rambling," Applejack said in an unimpressed tone. Sunset ceased her rant and let out another tired sigh. Applejack then gave Sunset a comforting pat on the arm. "Yes, Sunset. I'm not saying it is going to be easy. But you were able to make things right with me."

"Because I paid you," Sunset said bitterly. Applejack narrowed her eyes in frustration. "I don't have enough to pay off the rest of the-,"

"How many times do I have to tell you!" Applejack bellowed, banging her fist on the table. The reaction spooked Sunset. "It's not about money! It was you telling the truth and putting in an honest day's work that made me forgive you! Get that through your thick skull!" Sunset let out a sigh.

"Yeah, but, if I want forgiveness, people have to give me a chance," Sunset said morosely. "Your other friends haven't even given me that." Applejack looked down at her plate, and then looked at Sunset with warm eyes.

"How about this?" Applejack asked in a reassuring tone. "This weekend, Pinkie and I will speak to our other friends. We'll...see if we can get them to let you eat lunch with us."

"Do you think that you can get them to give me another chance?" Sunset said with some faint hope.

"You've helped out around my farm every weekend," Applejack said warmly. "I think that's as good of a case as any." Applejack sighed. "If I can come around, I can get everyone else to."

"Thanks Applejack," Sunset said kindly. Cherry appeared and dropped the check onto the table in front of Applejack.

"Here's your bill ladies," the redhead said kindly before walking away to clean some table. Applejack looked at the bill and let out a fake gasp.

"Sunset," Applejack said with some jest. "Since you aren't evil anymore, could you cover my bills for the rest of the year?" Sunset let out a small snort.

"With the amount you eat, being evil might be cheaper," Sunset said with facetious annoyance. The two girls began giggling. Applejack felt that maybe, just maybe, things might work out.

Comments

[Charli13]

this sounds really good well done. will be following along.

[The Voice in the Water]

I've got a very bad feeling that this will go pearshaped. Hard.

I'm going to keep an eye on this one.

[TigerCat111]

Definitely going in my tracking. I have a bad feeling about this...

[LucarioFan2066]

The title of the chapter is a typo; it's "Hesitation", with only one 's'.

Also, sweet; looking forward to seeing this continued.

[DarkSpider]

Glad I checked to see if this was out. And reading that description, I feel like I'm gonna be very angry soon. Not saying your writing is bad. It's definitely good. I just hate abuse like that. Hopefully Sunset will be able to win.

[Spooksi]

The description alone already makes me mad. Let's see how many chapters I can go through before I want to step inside this story and punch someone. Rainbow Dash.....why just why.....you are the element of Loyalty for crying out loud. I hope that her element somehow finds some way in the end.....and she doesn't damage her friendships with the Rainbooms because of her poor choices.

[CrossoverFanficReader]

Oh, this will be a fun read! Then i can add more fanfic personalities to my hit list when i dress up as Dark Knight's Joker! (P.S Heath Ledger is the only true Joker there should be, he played the role so damn well, Joaquin Phoenix just takes me back to the cringy musical Batman movies with the blue and grey suits, and the gay shorts Robin used to wear.)
Also:

"Alright then," Applejack said excitedly. "Now that that's settled, let's head to the mall." The girls all got up from their chairs and hurried out of the farmhouse, except for Rainbow Dash, who dragged her feet as she walked out of the farmhouse.

"Pony Express," the athlete said to herself.

Thank you Rainbow Dash for signing my petition! (Also, yeah i can understand her anger. Only vandalism on her record? And only community service? Okay let's count up the crimes she's committed; terrorist levels of property destruction, dozens of cases of blackmail, implied extortion on many occasions due to her lack of income, and multiple counts of attempted murder, and assault and battery. Yeah, this is not a record worthy of parole in under 5 years. So in summary, Sunset should be imprisoned for her record, and should die broke, and disease ridden on the streets because no one is going to hire a person with a record as dirty as hers is.)
Edit: hey, you don't have to like it, but that's fact. In terms of human law, she should have faced criminal charges. Should. Have. Not did. On another note, 22 dislikes and counting! A new record!

[Explodingkitten55]

9896271
....
What the actual fuck.

[KittyrinnAiko]

9896271
The worst thing Sunset would have to look forward to if they tried to charge her would be deportation. The moment anyone opened their mouths to say Sunset turned into a she-demon and turned the student body into zombies the case would be thrown out. The entire episode would be dismissed as mass-hysteria possibly do to something in the punch. Not one single accusation would be taken seriously after that, especially since it's been established that she is a good student who up to that point was liked by the teachers.

[Theresa]

10469509
Actually considering technically she a literal alien deportation is the least of her worries.

[KittyrinnAiko]

10846825
Doubt anyone would take accusations of being that kind of alien seriously. No, she'd be sent to a detention center and then shipped off to whichever country would be willing to take her.

[MatTheBook]

"I've never heard of a poison cake before," Pinkie Pie said obliviously. "Poison isn't very tasty. Also, it is very poisonous." Sunset looked at the pink girl with utter disbelief. "All my cakes have sugar, butter, flour-"

😨😨😨😨😨😨😨

i wont even question of how she's not dead.