> Walk through the Storm > by The Toaster Repair > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > Chapter 1 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 1 Sunset Shimmer has had the worst week ever. It all started when this Anon-a-miss started posting secrets of her friends, making them think it was her, so much so that they'd publically accuse her of it. Anon-a-miss had also made posts about everybody: staff, student, it didn't matter, then other students started thinking it was her as well, it had gotten to the point that teachers are praising students who try and take things into their own hands and harass Sunset, instead of punishing them for it. Sunset just wanted for it to end, she had done everything to try and convince them that she was not Anon-a-miss, but no one believed her, they all thought she was lying, just trying to get closer so as to steal their secrets for 'her' blog. This was bolstered when anyone tried to stick up for her, had ended up being posted the day after. So everyone at Canterlot High thought she was Anon-a-miss, students, teachers, janitors, etc., everyone. Sunset found herself being attacked in the middle of the hallways, and instead of someone helping her, or even tell a teacher, they all cheer and praise the attacker (or attackers) for what they were doing. It was just to much, she couldn't handle anymore. Sunset was walking back to her home, nursing her newly appointed bruises, curtsey of the Wonderbolts, Canterlot's football team, she walked through the worsening snow storm with only her leather jacket to provide what minimal protection it could provide. Sunset wiped the tears out of her eyes as she approached her 'home', an abandoned warehouse that someone had either forgot to, or simply wasn't bothered to do so, cut off power and water to. As she opened the massive door, she looked around, taking in everything that she owned. A well worn coach that she got from a junkyard nearby, a 50'' TV that she took, and repaired, from the same junkyard, an old wooden table in between the coach and TV, also from the junkyard, stairs leading up to a second floor, Sunset got an A+ in Project Design and other such construction classes for a reason, while Sunset couldn't see it from where she was standing, there was a worn King size bed with a pillow and a blanket, the bed was from the junkyard as well but the pillow and blanket were fashioned from thrown out material from the Fashion Club, a simple desk that she made in Project Design, a night lamp on top the desk that she got as a gift from Fluttershy on her birthday. Sunset continued forward before throwing herself on the coach, sobbing her eyes out, trying to relieve herself of the pain she was feeling into the worn fabric of the coach. Once she stopped crying, she turned to her TV, grabbing her remote and turning on the TV, while she didn't have any channels that require payment for, she still got the News. Though she didn't like watching the news, mostly because most of the things they talk about are atrocities and utterly disgusting things happening, world wide, but she wanted something to distract her from the hell that had become her life. As she watched the two news anchors argue about what actions should be taken stop some horrible thing some extremist organization was doing, she couldn't understand why they all couldn't just get along, like in Equestria. As soon as that thought passed her by, she remembered that she could always talk to Twilight, and immediately started digging through her bag, trying to find the only form of communication to her last friend, only to come up with nothing. "No, no, no..." Sunset desperately escalated her search, going as far to dump out all of her backpacks contents, yet still came up with empty handed. "Please, no..." Tears stung her eyes as she still searched for the Sun emblazoned book. "Why... why won't they believe me, why do they think I'm Anon-a-miss! Haven't I proven myself already, after everything I did, I helped students who were struggling in school, I helped almost every if not every club in that damn school! I even faced the GODDAMN DAZZLINGS for them, and yet, the moment something bad happens, I'm to blame! No benefit of the doubt, no defense, one flimsy piece of evidence and I'm guilty!" Sunset broke, tears streaming, her wails echoing off the walls before falling silent. As Sunset sat there, tears still falling from her eyes, breathes coming in shaky intakes. Aside from the sniffle every now and again, Sunset was completely silent, before a chuckle escaped her lips. That chuckle was soon followed by another, then another, pretty soon she was laughing hysterically, tears still streaming from her eyes. "Hehe hahaha, it's so obvious, they want me dead, they want me to just kill myself, hehehe hahahaha!" Sunset said as she stood up, she turned towards the stairs. "Well, since I'm their friend, and I want them to be happy with, I should give them what they want." Sunset giggled as opened her nightstand and pulled out M9 Berretta that she 'borrowed' from some drug dealer who used to sell drugs here. "Okie dokie, you want me dead, alright, one dead Sunset Shimmer coming right up!" Sunset smiled as she pressed the barrel to the side of her neck, near the back, where the spinal cord connects to the skull, and pulled the trigger. A loud bang resounded throughout the warehouse and outside it as the bullet flew out of the barrel, into her neck, through her spine, separating it entirely, killing her instantly. Sunset fell to the ground, blood spurting out of the hole in her neck, with a smile only Pinkie Pie could match. Sunset felt at peace as darkness descended upon her, one more tear escaped her eyes as she breathed her last. In the last moment of life, she wondered, 'Who was Anon-a-miss? Why did she do this, what was she trying to achieve with all of this, and to what ends? Eh, these questions aren't going to be answered anyway, so what's the point in asking them.' Little did Sunset know, that the answers she was looking for, was right outside her home. ------- Sweetie Belle was walking next to her friends, Applebloom and Scootaloo, who were talking quite enthusiastically about who they were going to strike next. "Ah'm telling ya Scoots, we should post Watchdog next, he tried to hack our account to trace us, it was only thanks to Sweetie's hacking skills that we were able to stop him this time, and with what we got on him, it should give him tell him exactly what will happen if he tries this again." Applebloom argued will scrolling through her phone for the photos. "And I'm saying that you're wrong, Watchdog isn't going to let this go, especially if you lash out at him. I say we do Soarin, the bastard is cheating on Rainbow with Sugarplums!" Scootaloo said as she showed Applebloom the image on her phone. "But that'll make Sunset look like she starting to be a 'good girl' again, and everyone would fall for her charade again, then we'd be right back at square one!" The country gal pointed out. "Hey girls." Sweetie said, trying to get their attention. "Yeah, Sweets." The orange daredevil said as they both turned to her. Sweetie took in a deep breath, hoping to lessen her anxiety, before saying. "I just wanted to know, when is this going to end?" "Huh?" Applebloom and Scootaloo said, not quite getting what Sweetie was saying. "When is this going to end, when are we going to stop being Anon-a-miss, when is the account going to be taken down, and most importantly, where do we draw the line?" Sweetie Belle's slew of question caught them of guard, not expecting the push over of group to start questioning them. "Uh, well, how about yah tell us what gotten intah yah before we start answering any questions." Applebloom said uneasily, she had never thought of a way out the whole Anon-a-miss fiasco, she was just having as much fun with it as she could. "Well earlier at school, I saw Sunset get attacked by a bunch of students, and they were all telling her to kill herself. So that got me thinking 'What if Sunset actually did so?', and that thought got me worried about what would happen if that actually, and I thought about asking you girls for your thought on this." "I say let her," Scootaloo said without hesitation, before smiling evilly. "Hell, I say that would make my week if she did." "Same, but then we'd have to take down the site, but at least that bitch would finally be out of our lives." Applebloom shrugged, not noticing Sweeties horrified face. "Kinda hoping for it now actually, wonder if she'll take the message, she ain't wanted here and she ain't wanted back in Equestria, so why doesn't she just take the hint and kill herself alrea- BANG" Applebloom was cut by the sound of a gun going off. "Woah, what was that, an Anti tank rifle or something?!" Scootaloo rubbed her ears as she got off the ground. "Nah, that sounded like a pistol, haven't yah heard gunshots before, cause that was quite compared to Mac's hunting rifle." Applebloom smiled mischievously at Scootaloo, not noticing Sweetie Belle running towards a large warehouse that looked like it hadn't been used in years. "No, I have, hundreds of times, I was just testing to girls!" Scootaloo said defensively, but the panic in her eyes gave it away. "Uh huh, sure, but we should get out of her, I don't think anyone using a 'Anti Tank rifle' in town could be safe to meet, so lets get going." Applebloom poked fun at Scootaloo before continuing down the street, at a noticeably faster pace. "Ugh, come on Sweets, let's get going... Sweets? Sweetie Belle?!" Scootaloo looked around for her friend, before noticing her at the entrance of the warehouse, trying to pry open the door. "Sweetie Belle!" Both Applebloom, who heard Scootaloo's shout, and Scootaloo ran over to Sweetie Belle, fully intending on dragging her away from what they thought was certain death, but by the time they reached her, she had already pried open the door and rushed in. Applebloom hesitated for a second, allowing Scootaloo to dash ahead of her, before following her friends. When she entered, she gasped at what she saw, instead of a worn down, beat up, shady warehouse like it is on the outside, she saw what she assumed to be a hand made staircase, created out of scrap metal, and several worn out furniture. "Who is living here?" Applebloom turned to see Scootaloo approaching the TV, looking just as befuddled as Applebloom was. Before she responded, she saw Sweetie Belle climbing the staircase out of the corner of her eye. "Sweetie, wait for us, we need to get out of here!" Sweetie didn't respond, she was frozen at the top of the staircase, not moving in the slightest. Scootaloo got to her first, saying. "What is it Sweets, find a dead guy - oh..." Scootaloo cut herself off as she stared at something out of Applebloom's view. "What?!? what are yah two staring at, move so Ah can see!" Applebloom was fed up with not knowing, she shoved Scootaloo out of the way to get better access. As she stepped up she tried to mentally prepare herself for anything she might find, but even still, what she saw broke through any precautions and stopped her in her steps. "Sunset?" > Chapter 2 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 2 There on the ground, no more the 5 feet away, was Sunset Shimmer, wearing an ear to ear grin, a hole in the neck that as bleeding profusely, Eyes still wet with tears, teeth that once shined like diamonds now stained with blood, her hand was still gripping the pistol, a lone casing was slowly coming to a stop. Sunset was dead, Applebloom got her wish, so why doesn't she feel happy. Applebloom thought, not five minutes ago, that she would be ecstatic upon hearing that Sunset was dead, but now that she is in front of her, lying dead, all she felt was dread and sorrow. Applebloom shook her head, shoving all those feelings away, 'It's Sunset Shimmer, why do yah care, yah know she was just waiting fort the right time to turn her back on Applejack and the rest of her friends, it's Sunset, it's what she does, goddamnit!' As Applebloom's inner turmoil rolled on, Sweetie Belle appoarched Sunset, tears begin to fall with each step. "Sunset? Sunset, come on wake up, you can't be sleeping on the floor, it not very lady like, hehe." Applebloom approached Sweetie, who was shaking the 'sleeping' Sunset, contemplating whether or not should they pull Sweetie away. Ultimately Scootaloo thought it was best to try and coral Sweetie away from Sunset. "Come on, Sweetie, why not just let Sunset sleep were she wants, come on let's go and Sunset be." Scootaloo lead Sweetie Belle all the way to the exit of Sunset's home. Just as Applebloom closed the door, she turned to her friends and said. "We can't tell anyone about what we saw." "WHAT!!??" Came the reply, Applebloom had expected this and was already thinking of way to convince them. "Not right away, this is all just happening to fast, so we should all get some rest and think of what to do next." Was all Applebloom managed to come up with. "WHY?! WHY NOT JUST TELL THE POLICE WE FONUND SUNSET IN THERE WITH A FUCKING HOLE IN HER NECK?!?!?" Sweetie Belle screamed at her, shocking both Applebloom and Scootaloo, as Sweetie Belle despised swearing above all everything. "I don't know about you two, but I'm done! We just pushed Sunset to kill herself, a girl innocent of everything she was accused of, who was redeeming herself in the eyes of everyone at school, and we pushed her to kill herself because we wanted to hang out with our sisters more!!" "What are you saying Sweetie?" Scootaloo asked, but Applebloom already had suspicions as to what Sweetie was planning on doing, and grimaced at what she was going to have to do to keep her quite. "I'm telling Rarity that I'm Anon-a-miss, I won't drag you two into this, but I can't live with myself knowing I forced a friend of my sister to kill herself." Sweetie turned and walked away from her friends, a fire in her eyes, but was stopped by Applebloom grabbing her arm. "Sweetie, Ah know you feel bad, but yah have to think of the consequences, like Button Mash, yah two are going out on a date tomorrow aren't yah." Applebloom knew it was a low blow, but she couldn't let Sweetie Belle go through with her plan. "I don't deserve him if could be the cause of this." Sweetie sniffed at the thought breaking up with Button Mash, but it was necessary for her to redeem herself in her own eyes, she can worry about others later. Applebloom grimaced, she had hoped that Button would be all that was needed to convince to hold off, but it seems she was going to have use it after all. "And what of this," Sweetie looked at the phone, it showed Rarity entering a 'Adult Store' as Scootaloo, but from the way photograph was taken, it looked she was working there, and if the photo got out it would,"-ruin Rarity's reputation, as no one would put it past your sister to be a slu-" Applebloom was silenced as Sweetie Belle slapped her. "So your going to blackmail me, huh, your going to blackmail me into doing what you want. Well then, it seems that Sunset's friendship wasn't the only one broken." Sweetie said, then turned and walked briskly away. "This was for the best Sweetie, you'll see." Applebloom called after her, before turning to Scootaloo, who promptly slapped her across the face as well. "You should be ashamed of yourself, Applebloom, because she's right, we've went to far. And this time no amount of apologizing will save us this time, the story has reached the end, and we aren't the heroes, no, we're the monsters that ransack and destroy everything we come across, even ourselves, and I'm quite frankly ashamed that it took Sunset to kill herself to show me that, but I'm more disappointed in you, because it seems you need a bit more convincing." Scootaloo said before taking off after Sweetie Belle. "You'll see that I'm right, you'll come back, just wait and see." Applebloom tried to play it off, but the quiver in her voice gave her away. Applebloom began the long trek home, for this was the first time in a long time, she was alone. ---- Sunset's eyes blinked open, instead of being someone religious plane, good or bad, she was still in her house. She sat up and reached for neck, feeling the now somewhat dried blood on it. "Agh-ugh-*hack*." Sunset tried to speak, but only ended up coughing up more blood. Sunset felt around her neck, trying to find out what was wrong, and was more that a little surprised when one of her finger suddenly into her neck. "Agh!" Sunset screamed and yanked her finger out of her neck. Doing her best to ignore the newfound pain in her neck as she stumbled down the stairs towards her emergency first aid kit. After cleaning the wound, applying disinfectant , Sunset discovered the second hole, repeated the last two step, applied gauze, she wrapped her neck with bandages, thoroughly keeping the gauze in place. Sunset sat down, a look of confusion on her face, trying to remember what had happened, then it all came rushing back to her, the attack, her breakdown, and finally her attempt to take her life. Sunset cried, while unable to actually make any noise besides violent hacking, she still made as much noise as she could in her current state. After about an half an hour later, Sunset had cried herself to sleep, not wanting to wake, hoping that some form of afterlife would take while she slept, for she couldn't handle this one anymore. > Chapter 3 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 3 *RING* *RING* *RING* *RING* Sunset's alarm went off, and by reflex, Sunset woke up, despite being on the first floor. In a haze, Sunset rushed up the stairs and turned off her alarm clock. Her brain noticed that she was already ready for school (wearing clothes and coat) and decided to continue on her schedule, not noticing the blood stains, Sunset went down the stairs towards one of her sinks. Sunset tried to drink the water straight from the tap, her still dazed brain not noticing the water soaking and dripping through the gauze around her neck. After Sunset was done 'drinking', she went over to were her backpack lay, shoved everything haphazardly into it, and walked out the door. It was snowing again, causing Sunset's sense to begin to return, but even so it was only until she had reached the school had she fully awaken. Outside the school entrance, Sunset hesitated, wondering if she could handle another day of hell. After a few minutes, she decided to head in, but with the sole purpose of finding out who stole her book and getting it back. She opened the doors, prepared for the name calling, jeering, and other such ways of torment the other students normally do, only to met with silence. Every student was staring at her with wide eyes, constantly looking back to something on their phones, only one student moved, and that was to run down the hallway. After about a minute of being stared at, Sunset started to get irritated and uncomfortable, and started walking down the hallway, watching for anyone who would try to trip her, shoulder check her, towards her locker but stopped upon spotting the Humane Five. Immediately deciding that she couldn't through with meeting her friends again, and decided to rush to class. As she walked through the hallways, she noticed that no one was trying to harass her in anyway, she started to think that maybe, they started to believe that she was telling the truth. At least until she ran into Trixie and her group of friends, while they don't have any real common interests, they all hate Sunset and that was all they needed to be friends. "Well well well, if it isn't Anon-a-miss, I was just wondering how you were going to play this off." Trixie said as a smirk formed on her face. "Now I know you aren't stupid enough to think 'killing' yourself is a good idea. No no, you're smarter than that, instead you blackmail two little girls to take the blame." Trixie walked towards her, the irritating smirk still on her face, and said, "But there was one flaw, they didn't have a photograph or any other kind of evidence to prove that you killed yourself or that they were Anon-a-miss. And without that, all we had to do is wait for 'surprising survival' and show everyone that you set it up from the beginning, just as you had with your reformation. So what do you got to say to that, she-demon." Trixie had turned back to her supporters for the duration of her speech, so when she turned around, expecting to see Sunset in tears as all other attempts have been, she was caught completely off guard when a almost searing hot hand wrapped around her neck and lifted her off the ground. "I say, that you should keep quite before you get yourself hurt." Sunset's eyes bored into Trixie's, Trixie noticing that the white of her iris was rapidly turning black and the skin around her eyes was turning red and was expanding across the rest of her body at a moderate pace. Now Trixie may be a bit egotistical (a lot actually), but even she knew that a wrong step in this situation could lead to Sunset turning into something a lot worse than Anon-a-miss, so she decided to oblige her. After she nodded to confirm her obedience, she went hurling through the air and into a locker, not causing any harm to her or the locker, but it still hurt a lot. However, Dumb bell and Hoops were not nearly as intelligent as those around them, and charged Sunset the moment she threw Trixie away. "You bitch!" Hoops said as he threw a punch right at Sunset's face, only for it to be caught by her palm. Holding it steady, Sunset proceeded to crush his hand with hers, creating a sickening crunch like noise that was followed by Hoops screaming. "Don't worry Hoops, I'm on my way." Dumb bell drew some weights out his backpack and tried to clobber Sunset with them, only for her block them and Spartan kick him into the nearby lockers, indenting them upon impact, Dumb bell coughed up blood before passing out. Sunset, now almost completely transformed, just lacking her wings, her tail, and her horn, turned to the crowd who came to watch Trixie and her goons harass her again and said, "Anyone else?" That was when the screaming started. ------- Rainbow was sitting with the rest of the Humane five outside the principles office. It had been two days since Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo both claimed that the CMC was actually Anon-a-miss, but Applebloom was denying vehemently against the accusations, but it seemed to be a losing battle for if what Principle Celestia had told Applejack yesterday meant anything. Rainbow could still remember how she reacted to the news. Rainbow was sitting with the rest of her friends at Sugarcube Corner, chatting about happenings at school, when all their phones dinged, signaling that Anon-a-miss had posted once again. "Ugh, what did Sunset post now?" Rarity scoffed as she unlocked her phone as did everyone else. "What the?" Rainbow said when she saw the title of the post. It's time I Confessed "Well it looks like Sunset is finally going to take responsibility for all this hupla." Applejack said, smirking at the thought. "I don't now Applejack, Sunset isn't the type of person to do something like this, no matter how bad it got." Pinkie said, hand stroking her chin for extra thinking power. "Well I can't think of any other reason for this post to labeled as such." Rarity said, huffing at the end. "Maybe she's trying to get us to look at, you know that quite a bit of people have just stopped looking at the post because of all the pain it's been causing." Rainbow suggested, and she was right, a large amount of people had stopped responding or even looking into the Anon-a-miss post as an attempt to coax Sunset into stopping the posts altogether, unfortunately, it wasn't working. Most of the school still read the post, laughing at others or crying out in rage at their own. "Well I hope that it's an actual confession." Fluttershy said, taking sips out of her milkshake. Rainbow clicked play on the video. The room was dark, but their was an outline of someone, an outline of Sunset. Rainbow smirked, looked like she was finally going to own up to what she did. The figure reached up and pulled of the hair, everyone at the table gasped, and then the lights turned on. What followed next was echoed by several other student costumers at Sugarcube Corner. "SWEETIE BELLE!" "Hello, now as many of you may know, my name is Sweetie Belle, Rarity's little sister." Sweetie Belle's voice came from the phone, there was no tremble or hesitation, what she was saying was of her own freewill. " Now I know many of you are wondering why I'm on the Anon-a-miss post, and the answer is simple, the explanation however, not so much." "This can't be happening, she has to be forced to do this, right Applejack." Rarity said, looking over to the aforementioned girl. "Ah'm afraid that what she is saying up to this point is true Rares, Ah can't see any form of deceit on her, so I'm going to have tah say that she is telling the truth." "The reason, well, I'm Anon-a-miss, well, not entirely, I had some help." Sweetie continued, earning the groups undivided attention once again. Sweetie looked to someone off screen. Rainbow's eyes widen at the figure who walked in and sat next to Sweetie Belle. The new girl had purple hair, dark orange color skin, and purple eyes. Rainbow Dash knew who that girl was, she was the girl who used to live at the local orphanage, she was the girl who often got into trouble riding her scooter around school, she was the girl who cheered her on at all of her sports events, she was her adopted little sister, Scootaloo. "Hey, my name is Scootaloo, and I'm Sweetie's friend, and as most people know, Rainbow's biggest fan." Scootaloo said, a small smile growing on her face before it was replaced with a look of sadness. "But as Sweetie said, we are Anon-a-miss, and as I'm sure you're all guessing right about now, 'Since these two are Anon-a-miss, what about that other girl they hang out with a bunch.' Yes, Applebloom, Applejack's sister, is also apart of Anon-a-miss, but the reason she is not here with us is because unlike us, she wishes to keep going with Anon-a-miss." "WHAT!" Applejack screamed at the phone, desperately trying to find any form of deceit or signs of them lying, anything to disprove the newfound accusation against her little sister. "The other question you might be asking is why we decided to confess, surely we could just stop and Sunset would take the fall, or until Applebloom gets caught." Sweetie said, despair showing on her face as she gulped, looked to her friend for support, who hugged her as a way to calm her down. "Me, Scoots, and Applebloom were walking home today, when we heard a gunshot." Everybody in the store was watching the video rapt attention, even Mr. and Mrs. Cake were leaning over Pinkie's shoulder for a better view of the video, Sweetie was trying to continue speaking, but seamed to not be able to find the words, Scootaloo decided it was time she took over. "After the gunshot, Sweetie ran to see what had happened, not one of her brightest ideas I'm afraid, forcing Applebloom and I to run after her." Scootaloo spoke, a calm levelheaded tone that implied something terrible was about to be revealed. "When we caught up to her, she was inside a nearby abandoned warehouse, or at least that was what it looked like on the outside." "But inside, it looked like someone's home, of who's, we didn't know until a little bit later. But everything you'd need for a home to be home was there, chairs, coaches, a TV, running water and power, yadda yadda yadda, you get the point, it was obvious someone was living there." Scootaloo said, waving her hand dismissively. "There was a second floor and Sweetie was going up to it, so again we chased after her, she stopped at the top of the stairs, we caught up to her, wondering what had stopped her in her tracks, but the moment we saw it, we regreted it instantly, but understood how it happened." Scootaloo took in a deep breathe, trying to reclaim her nerve so she could continue, Sweetie Belle was a sobbing mess, clinging onto Scootaloo. Scootaloo looked back into the camera and said. "We saw the owner of the house, or at least what was in it, she goes to our school, she used to be our sisters friend, that's right, Sunset Shimmer was living in the warehouse, alone, and now-" "DEAD, SHE'S DEAD, SHE KILLED HERSELF, AND IT'S ALL BECAUSE OF US." Sweetie started crying her eyes out into Scootaloo's shoulder after her outburst. Silence, not a single noise was made besides the crying coming from the devices people were watching the video on. 'Dead?' A million thoughts were running through Rainbow's head, desperately trying to make since of all this, how had this had gone from time with her friends to one of them being dead. 'No, you told her she wasn't your friend remember, you cheered on her daily beatings, laughed as teachers did their own way of showing how much they hated her, and even participated in that "Expel Sunset" campaign a couple days ago. If there's anyone else who simply left her alone, then they would have shown more loyalty to her than you did, miss Element of Loyalty.' The same inner turmoil was shown on every face in the building, but they all snapped out of it when Sweetie Belle spoke again. "After we recovered, we left the warehouse, and Sunset's body, I said that I was going to confess, but I wasn't going to let my friends take the fall with me if they didn't want to." Sweetie's voice trembled as she wiped tears out of her eyes, a small smile adorned her face as Scootaloo hugged her. "I, of course, wouldn't let my friend take the fall like that, but one of us wanted to keep going, even after the result of what we had done." Scootaloo snarled as she said it. "Applebloom wanted to wait till the day after to make a decision on what to do, which was completely reasonable, but after I affirmed that regardless of whether or not she agreed with my decision, I was going to confess today." Sweetie sent a knowing look at Scootaloo, who snarled again, remembering something unpleasant. "What she did after wasn't though." Was all Scootaloo said for Sweetie's face to morph into one of fury and hate, shocking all who were watching, the normally kind hearted and Fluttershy-ish little girl who wouldn't hurt a fly without a good reason, looked as if she wanted to rip and tear her way to the object that caused her some much hate. "What Applebloom threatened me with is no longer an issue as she doesn't have it anymore." Sweetie said through gritted teeth, trying to keep her cool. "Doesn't change the fact that she threatened to destroy your sister's reputation and all opportunities for her dream job." Scootaloo said again, a downcast expression adorning her face. "We'll discuss what we'll do about Applebloom after this, now is there anything else you wanted to mention." Sweetie turned to face Scootaloo, who shook her head showing that she was done. "Well then, I guess that we're done here, thank you for reading our post, sorry for all the pain we caused, or reasons for doing this will be given to Principle Celestia tomorrow at school, and if you wish for justice to be taken, I suggest not trying to 'take matters into your own hands' as that give us a lessened punishment, just something to keep in mind, good bye, once and for all." The video ended, nobody moved, nobody spoke, everyone in the building felt guilty: The Cake's, who had turned Sunset away due to what was going on at the school, even threatening her on multiple occasions to call the authorities on her, the students who tormented her day in and day out, just because they now had a reason to, Teachers, who would fail every piece of homework, quiz, and test she took, to show her how much they hated her, other Staff members, who would harass her in any way they could, and finally, the Humane 5, the name now seeming ironic, they befriended a reforming bully, to show her that friendship is a far better route than one of isolation and anger, turned on her at the first piece of evidence that say she's guilty, despite how many holes in all of the pieces 'evidence' that were obtained. With much shame and remorse, Pinkie Pie drew forth, a sun emblazoned book, the same one they use to talk to Princess Twilight Sparkle "Now I know this may not be the time, but whose going to tell Twilight?" Pinkie asked, before wincing with all of her friends. How were they supposed to tell a pony princess, the one who saved them twice so far, that they assisted in the bullying of Sunset Shimmer, the same girl Twilight told them look after and help her learn the Magic of Friendship. How were they supposed to tell a god like being that they not only failed to do the one thing she asked of them, but also helped do the exact opposite. That thought plagued their mind, until the door opened, and in walked a middle schooler, she had butter yellow colored skin, cherry red hair, and a light pink bow. The entire store was staring at her, they all knew exactly who she was, she was Applejack's little sister, the ring leader of the CMC, and the newly founded creator of Anon-a-miss, Applebloom, and she just can't understand why the moment she walked into Sugarcube Corner, she was met with a wave of hatred. "Ahem" Applebloom turned to see her older sister Applejack, expecting to see the loving look in her eyes, instead only found coldness and anger, the same look she gave Sunset after Anon-a-miss became a thing. "Applebloom, I think we need to talk." Applejack said, her voice void of emotion, confusing and scaring Applebloom further. "How about you start with your part in Anon-a-miss." Applebloom's eyes widen, only for a second before she bit it back down in hopes that she could get out of this, but the change in posture showed her that a second was all that was needed for Applejack see that whatever she was told was in fact true. Applebloom began plotting ways to get out of this, but for some reason, she had a feeling that she had already lost. It had gone about as to be expected, Applebloom denied everything, and is still continuing, and Principle Celestia had said that if Applebloom doesn't confess, she is planning on taking this incident to court, since Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo had already confessed, while they would not be charged, their punishment would still be severe, but would not be dealt with by the police. "Agh, this sucks." Rainbow Dash said as she raked her fingers through her hair. "What is it this time, Dash?" Rarity sighed as she looked up from her magazine. "This whole situation, two of the Crusaders confesses, the third rejects it, and all of them are refusing to tell us where Sunset Shimmer's body is, what happened that made everything go batshit crazy so fucking fast!" Rainbow panted at the end of her little rant, her anger started to cool off, only for it to be relit when she heard Rarity gasping. "Rainbow Dash, you shouldn't use such vulgar words, they are unsightly and have been purposed to only hurt others." Rarity said, exasperated, only to shrink back at Rainbow's glare. "Oh really, miss 'Beat that secret telling whore till her fucking traitorous mouth is sealed shut from bruising!', we shouldn't use vulgar words, they're only used to hurt people, huh." Rainbow hissed in unbridled fury. "Now Rainbow Dash, I'm sure you know that it wasn't just me, if I remember it was only Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie who didn't participate in Sunset's *ahem* 'punishment', so I don't think you have the right be angry at me for that." Rarity said, hoping to at least give Rainbow enough reason to make not want to hit her. "Yeah, I probably have no room to talk there," Rainbow said, her head hanging low in shame. "You know, I just wish that I could see her again, just so I could-" "Applejack!" Lighting Dust burst through the office doors, gaining the attention of everyone instantly. "What seems to be the problem Lighting?" Applejack said as she stood up. "It's Sunset, she's alive." Lighting said, still panting. "What! Quick girls, we got go find her!." Rainbow said as she burst out of her seat, and was about to run out the door when Lighting said. "Wait!" Lighting grabbed Rainbow's arm, just barely keeping her in the office. "There's something else." "Oh my, she isn't injured is she?" Fluttershy said, tears welling up in her eyes. "Uh, well, she had bandages wrapped around her neck, but that's not it, she gone berserk and is attacking everybody!" lighting yelled, waving her arms around for dramatic affect. A moment of silence had fallen upon the group, before they let out an loud "What!" > Chapter 4 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 4 Pinkie Pie was running alongside the other Humane 5 towards the sound of conflict, they passed several unconscious injured students and torn up lockers, but have yet to actually spot Sunset Shimmer. Pinkie's hair started to droop again, just thinking of her name leaves the feeling of despair and guilt. Pinkie loves nothing more than making friends and making them happy, but this last week, she lost a friend and made her miserable. "Um... Pinkie?" Rarity started, running right next to her. "Yeah, Rarity, what is it?" Pinkie responded "I'm starting to have second thoughts about running towards Sunset now." Rarity said, her eyes drooping further towards the ground. "What, why?!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed as her head snapped towards Rarity. "Well, we didn't exactly be nice to Sunset after we left her." Rarity said as the entire group slowed to a stop, Rarity's word having a more profound affect on some of them than others. "Yeah, I tricked her to coming to the gym a couple nights ago, Gilda and her gang were waiting for her, though they didn't leave unharmed, they still beat the piss out of her." Rainbow Dash confessed, not mentioning that she was watching it happen. "Mah brother got the football team together tah teach her a lesson for messing with me." Applejack was next to confess, her head hanging from the weight of her sins. "Ah even encouraged it when I saw it, Ah was hooting and hollering as if it were at the rodeo." "I started the Expel Sunset Campaign." Rarity said, causing the other to go silent. Rainbow Dash, who had led her friend into a sense of false security, only to throw her to the wolves, Applejack, who had her brother publically assault the same friend, looked at the woman who had done more harm than either of them combined. While the leader of the Expel Sunset Campaign was 'Anonymous', the strikes the put on outside the school had been shown on the local news, effectively destroying all chance of Sunset having a nice life or career, making it so that no matter where she goes, the shame of a crime she didn't do followed her. By far, Rarity had done the worst to Sunset than the entire school had done tenfold. Pinkie walked over to Rarity and slapped her across the face. Rarity didn't try to dodge or console Pinkie, she just took the hit, which was surprisingly harder than she had thought the pudgy girl could do. When she looked back, she saw Pinkie crying, not comically like she normally does, but real and realistic tears, effectively slamming the point home that Rarity had done a horrible act. Pinkie felt Rarity hugging her, from the moist feeling on her head, she was crying as well. Another set of arms wrapped around them, the firmness of the muscle identified the cowgirl, Applejack, then another set joined, night and day, these, while they had some muscle on them, was squishy and soft, almost exactly like Rarity's but a bit softer, Pinkie immediately knew it was Fluttershy, and when the final one joined, Pinkie already knew who it was going to be, but feels like it would be leaving her out of the mix, the lithe firmness of the arm would always give her away. "What happened to us?" Pinkie sniffed, tears still streaming. "How did we swoop so low that we'd applaud these attacks instead of condeming them?" No one had an answer. How could they, what do you say to a question like that? They didn't have an answer and knew even if they did, it would only give a more negative than positive effect at the moment. The moment was shattered by a scream echoing through the hallway. The Humane Six immediately sprung into action, sprinting down the hall towards the noise. The Humane Six didn't know what to expect when the arrived, but they certainly didn't expect an officer being held up by Sunset. Pinkie had recognized her hair, but also recognized the red skin, the black sclera, and the almost fire like red irises burning with rage, all the tell tale signs of the demon Sunset became, minus the wings and horn though. But by the looks of things, Sunset seemed to not need her magic nor flight capabilities as she hurled the police officer down the corridor like she was an empty soda can. Fluttershy went to check on the officer, who was now in a nearby locker, while the rest of us continued forward, now more worried about confronting her. "Sunset... I know your angry and you probably want to hurt- AHHH!" Pinkie Pie screamed as she just barely dodged Sunset's fist. "Applejack, help me pin her!" Rainbow yelled at the cowgirl as she ran forward, slid underneath her, tackled Sunset. Rainbow managed to drag Sunset to the ground, allowing an opening for Applejack to jump on top of her. "Raaaggghhh!" Sunset roared, pushing Applejack's arms back slowily. Applejack was struggling to keep Sunset pinned, thinking about what would happen if she failed. Sunset would hurl her off, attack Rainbow then the rest of her friends, and while she may not have killed anyone yet, but with all the horrible things they had done to her, there was no saying she would be able to control herself. With that in thought, Applejack's body started glowing, a pair of ears sprouted out of the top of her head, her ponytail grew a ponytail, and her strength quintupled. Sunset was pinned within a few moments, Rarity and Rainbow were both holding Sunset's lags down, with a large amount of difficulty, Pinkie Pie had placed Sunset's head on her lap, stroking her hair with one hand, rummaging through her hair with another. "Shh, Sunset, shh." Pinkie tried to console Sunset, but only received animalistic grunts and screams in response. As Pinkie ruffled through her hair, the others looked at her quizzically, while they had have experience with Pinkie's 'quirkiness', but this seemed a little out of left field, even for her. Their confusion only grew as she drew a brown bottle and a rag out. Pinkie stopped stroking Sunset's hair to pop the lid of then covered it with the rag, she tipped the bottle upside down and back, getting an ample amount of liquid on the rag, before mashing it onto Sunset's mouth. This action had caused Sunset's struggles to double in feriocity, causing even Applejack to struggle keeping her down. "Shh shh shh, it's time to sleep Sunset, and when you wake up, I'll make it up to you and we'll all be friends again." Pinkie said, tears in her eyes, as Sunset's struggles slowly died down, before stopping entirely. "Whoa nelly, whatda' give her Pinkie." Applejack huffed, her ears and second ponytail disappearing in small flashes, as she got up. "Chloroform." Was all Pinkie said, still stroking Sunset's hair. "Well now that that is over with," Rarity said as she got up too, dusting herself off, with a grim expression. "What are we going to do with her?" "What do you mean Rares?" Rainbow said, looking up at her, still having a death grip on Sunset's leg. "What I mean is that Sunset just tried to kill us, had attacked other students and an officer, destroyed school property..." Rarity's rant died off as she saw that Sunset's body was gaining it's former color again, which was great but, there was another color returning as well. "Rainbow, go get some bandages from the infirmary, Applejack an ambulance!" Rarity screamed as she and pinkie both put pressure on the hole through Sunset's neck, which had returned to bleeding. Rarity's scream had sent both Applejack and Rainbow Dash into action, but it had also woke up the unconscious officer. "*snort* What, were am I?" The officer questioned, wondering how she got there and why. When she saw Rarity and Pinkie putting pressure on Sunset's neck, memories flowed back. "Hey get away from her, she's dangerous!" The officer sprung up to try and save the students from the she-demon who had completely floored her moments ago, but had stopped once she saw that not only was Sunset unconscious but was seriously injured as well. The officer was shoved aside by Fluttershy, who was hold a large First Aid Kit. "Alright, would some please explain what happened while I was unconscious." The officer said, rubbing her forehead in frustration. "WellSunsetherewasgoingonarampagethroughtheschoolwhenwehadfinallycaughtuptoher,shethrewyouatus,bythewayareyoualright,youmighthavesomeseriousdamagetoyourback,andifthathappenedhowwouldyoubeabletopartyand-" Pinkie blabbered until the officer clamped her hand around her mouth. "Besides Pinkie." The officer liked Pinkie, but in cases like these, she'd rather Pinkie just didn't get involved. "Well, miss..." Rarity trailed when she realized she didn't know who the officer was. "Sergeant Bright Badge." Sgt. Badge responded to Rarity's nonverbal question. "Well, Ms. Badge, a few days ago, a cyber bully named Anon-a-miss had revealed herself, or rather themselves." Rarity said, tears starting to emerge in her eyes as she remembered the screaming Sweetie had thrown at her by her parents. "and the reason that is important is because they had initially framed Sunset here for all of it." Sgt. Badge looked down at the dying girl, even as Fluttershy wrapped more and more bandages around her neck, blood still seeped through them, and for the first since she entered the school, she saw the broken remains of Sunset as who she truly was, a broken girl who had finally snapped. "But what makes this even more shocking and horrifying is that in their confession video they had stated that they found her dead, in her makeshift house." Rarity's head hanged down, tears fell down from her eyes in a steady stream. "Makeshift?" Sgt. badge question, she had a thought as to what that had meant, but had hoped she was wrong. "Sunset is homeless, she was living in an abandoned warehouse somewhere in town, we still don't know which one as none of the three girls involved would say as to where it was." Rarity sobbed heavily. Sgt. Badge was about to say something else but was cut off by her radio coming to life with erratic static and noise. "Yes, this is Sgt. Badge, could you repeat that. The reason why is because I was unconscious, no I don't need backup, the suspect is incapacitated but requires medical and bad, I understand, over out." "So, why wasn't this reported to the police?" Sgt. Badge asked, not hearing about something like a student committing suicide was nearly impossible as the rest of her divion loved gossip and this had seemed like the tale that stood above them all. "Principle Celestia wanted to get a confession from all three girls before involving police intervention, but wasn't going to wait too long, tomorrow would have been the deal breaker and Principle Celestia would have called the police, with or without Applebloom's confession." Rarity explained, sniffling and trying to gain control over her emotions. "Sergeant!" A loud yell came out from behind the group. "Where are you, Sgt. Badge!" "Over here sheriff!" Sgt. Badge yelled back, which was sooner responded in by a multitude of stomping feet coming in there direction. "Badge, you alright?" The presumed sheriff round the corner with four other officers and a couple paramedics. ":Yeah, I'm alright, Shining, but I'd be careful if I were you, Cadance might get jealous." Bright Badge joked, her head injury was starting to catch up to her, but there was someone else in need of more help than her and her throbbing head. "Jesus Christ, you crazy son of a bitch, here I was concerned that you had been killed by some crazy bitch attacking the school, but instead I'm reminded about how much I hate you." Shining Armor tried really hard to make it look authentic, but he smirk firmly placed on his lips ruined it. "Hey!" Pinkie Pie suddenly exclaimed, pointing at Shining. "Um, yes miss." Shining Armor questioned, not sure as to why he was being yelled. "Don't call Sunset that, she's been through enough as it is." Pinkie said, hugging Sunset's head. "Wait, that's Sunset, as in the girl who was bullying everyone via some website, that Sunset." Shining Armor questioned, not quite understanding why this girl was defending the one who has been bullying everyone for over a week now. "It had come out that Sunset was actually innocent of it via a confession video by the actual Anon-a-miss." Fluttershy piped in, as she and Applejack helped the paramedics lift Sunset onto the stretcher, Rarity was holding Pinkie back cuddling with Sunset some more. "..." Shining Armor didn't know how to respond, here he was, a man who held factual evidence above other things except for desperate situations, had just let gossip alter his view on someone he had never even met. "Hey, Shining, calm down, there was no way you of all people could have known anything besides what had been shown." Bright Badge tried to console her friend. She knew that on the field or on an investigation, he was hell on wheels, but outside that, he's like a little girl, emotional and easy to squeeze a tear out of. "I know, but I was judging her based solely on what I heard, not even considering-" Shining Armor was cut off by Bright badge clamping her hand around his mouth. "How about we go and find Cadance before you turn into a sobbing pile of mush." Was all she said before pushing Shining Armor down the hallway. Now that the five girl were alone, they looked to each other to find out what to do next. It was only when Pinkie came up with the idea of "Wanna go to the hospital?" was anyone of them moved. And through the commotion, Pinkie failed to notice the book vibrating in her back pack. But if she had, she would have noticed that the words written on the previously blank page was... 'Sunset, I don't know what happened or what's happening, but I'm on my way, please be alright and not doing anything you might regret!' > Chaper 5 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 5 As Sunset was loaded into the ambulance. a loud snap was heard by everyone within earshot. The paramedics were able to pin point where the noise had come from and one started feeling one of her legs, confirming that her leg was in fact, broken. "What the?" Was all he had gotten out when another snap was heard, this time being somewhere in chest, also several cuts and bruises started to show up all over her body. "What the hell!?" Both the paramedics stepped back as Sunset's body grew more injuries, cuts and bruises appeared out of no where, then the injuries became more serious. Bullet holes appeared along side more serious lacerations and bruising, Sunset's entire ribcage broken, some turned bone dust but others proved to be more dangerous as they held most of their form. The paramedics compromised to simply deal with the injuries as they come. "Hey, call in that there is a change of status on the girl!" One the paramedics called to the driver. "What's changed?" The driver asked as he picked up his radio. "I don't know, just let them know that she is more injured than we thought and to prep Trauma." The Paramedic responded as he tried reset the dislocated shoulder again. -- As the ambulance slowed down at the emergency drop off, a three doctors were waiting for what would be coming out of it. "What do you think had happened to the patient?" Doctor Mending Bones asked Doctor Calm Mind. "I don't know, the original call was that she was shot in the neck, but now it had changed to unknown, I have a feeling that we are about to see something none of us has seen before." Doctor Calm Mind responded, concern etched into his face. "Whatever it is, we need to do our best to save that girl's life." Doctor Helpful Aid said as she approached the ambulance. The Ambulance door burst open while the doctors approached, the paramedics lowered Sunset out of the ambulance. "What's her condition-*Spray*" Doctor Helpful Aid was cut off by a stream of blood spraying out of Sunsets leg from a cut that wasn't there before. All the doctors looked to the paramedics for some sort of answer. "Constantly worsening." Was all the only response they got as they wheeled Sunset into the hospital. -- The Hospital doors opened as the Humane Five, Principle Celestia, Vice Principle Luna, and finally Princess Twilight Sparkle. All of which looked concerned as they approached the desk. "Um, hello, we are here to see Sunset Shimmer, she was brought in about an hour ago." Principle Celestia said to the nurse behind the desk. "Please wait over there until the doctors working on her come for you." The nurse told Celestia, pointing over to the waiting area. After about 20 minutes of waiting a doctor comes rushing over to them, her surgical gown covered in blood. "You all are close to my patient?" The doctor asked. "I am, please tell me, is she alright?" Twilight asked the doctor, worry evident on her face. "I don't know how to tell you this miss, but while she is still alive, we don't know how to treat her." The doctor said forlornly. "What do you mean?" Twilight asked. "I mean that wounds and injuries are literally appearing all over her body, we stitch up one cut, only to have two more to appear right over it." The doctor stated, frustration could be seen plainly on her face. "Lash out." Twilight said, a look of dawning and fear flew across her face. "You know what is happening!?" The Doctor was both confused and happy, confused because there was not a single medical professor in the building knew what was happening to Sunset. "Please tell me what we have to do, she may die without this information!" "It is a common dilemma back home, when a... child feels threatened and cornered, they go through what is called Arcana Vehement Surge, or Lash Out as it is more commonly known as." Twilight said as she followed the doctor through the hospital. "It sends person undergoing Lash Out into a frenzy, very few incidents had resulted only in injury as it not only increases speed, strength, and reflexes, but also loosens their morals." "Remarkable, it sounds almost impossible, but yet it matches the police report we received." The doctor said, baffled, but was still listening. "If you think that is impossible, wait till you hear this, it put the body into a stasis, the body will never change, there was an incident when a building fell on top of little boy who was undergoing Lash Out, he punched his way through the building." Twilight said, taking great pleasure in see the bewildered look on the doctors face, before it turned to skepticism. "That is completely impossible, there is no way how the body put itself into a stasis will still allowing the body movement- what are you doing?" The doctor rant was cut off by Twilight's hand started glowing. "Why is your hand- AHH! PUT ME DOWN, WHAT IS HAPPENING!" Twilight giggled at the frantic doctor she was levitating. "Both me and Sunset are from a place where magic not only exists, but also is a heavily studied practice." "OKAY, I BELIEVE YOU, JUST PUT ME DOWN!" The doctor screamed, several other doctors, nurses, and patients stared mesmerized by the scene. "Okay okay." Twilight giggled as she let the doctor float down to the floor. "Now then, shall we continue, my friend is in desperate need of help, and if I don't get to her soon, she will likely die. The doctor saw the seriousness in Twilights eyes, but one thing still lingered in her mind. "Alright, but let's continue talking, you said that it puts the body into a stasis, so that what, prevents her from being hurt?" "For a time." Twilight said, sadness showing in her eyes. "The stasis takes all the damage you release unto the person undergoing Lash Out, and waits for the person to either feel safe, or fall asleep, then the stasis would slowly apply the injuries to the body." "So you mean..." The doctor trailed off, realizing just how much danger Sunset is in. "It means if I don't remove the stasis from Sunset, she will gain all of the injuries she had taken on through out the Lash Out." Twilight confirmed as they pushed the door open into the room where Sunset was being held. "Doctor Aid, who is this?" Doctor Mending Bones asked. "My name is Twilight Sparkle and I know how to treat Sunset, and unless you want your hand to remain embedded into my friend, I suggest you remove it." Twilight said her hands glowing as she reached for Sunset. "Are you crazy! If I remove my hand, her artery will burst, again!" Doctor Mending Bones yelled at her, but was thrown into the wall behind him by an unknown force. "Anyone else?" Twilight asked, her eyes glowing white. Everyone in the room, aside from Mending Bones, got to work of removing all the tools they had placed inside Sunset, for they fear what Twilight would do to them if they didn't comply. "Hands clear!" Twilight yelled, everyone drew back and watched Twilight go to work. Sunset's body glowed lavender, the injuries Sunset had obtained vanished into thin air, glowing yellow sparks flew off Sunsets body, floating down on top of her like fireflies. When the glowing died down, Sunset was in perfect health, but Twilight was staring at her with wide eyes, shaking her head. "Miss, what's wrong, did something happen?" Doctor Helpful Aid asked as the rest of the staff prepped to apply their expertise. "Nothing physical, just... it's just that Sunset's mind is in shambles, I can't if she'll remember what happened, or if she would go into another Lash Out when she wakes up." It wasn't the whole truth, Twilight saw something else, one she only saw in the other four alicorns, a constantly replenishing soul. A normal soul would slowly diminish over time, decay and then eventually dissipate. An Alicorn soul does not, it never decays and, despite through extensive attempts to do so that Twilight knows of in recent history, which make the Alicorn soul immortal in every aspect of the word. "Oh Sunset, what has come of you?" Twilight said, sorrow plastered on her face as she stared at the newest Alicorn Princess, idly wondering how Sunset was going to take the news of having to be taken back home, to Equestria.