> Shine Bright Like a Diamond
>  by MASTERMIND360
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> We're Like Diamonds in the Sky
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Everything was dark and quiet a calm peace that was soon interrupted by screams and panicked foot steps . But soon all voices came back.

Celestia's voice booming over the PA systems.

"This is not a drill! I repeat! This is not a drill! Make your way to every exit points as soon as possible!"

And all the screams along the way.

"Forget about your items, Rainbow Dash! Just save yourself first!" Twilight shouted.

"Fine! I'm going!"

"Oh shit it's a real fire?!" Spitfire's voice shouted along with other screams. 

"FIRE!! EVERYONE MAKE A BREAK FOR IT!" Fleetfooot bellowed.

"Lyra, we can't go out! We're NAKED!" Bon Bon screeched.

Then came a vision of everyone dashing to the main exit, along with two certain girls wrapped together in the Wondercolt banner. The atmosphere was filled with terror and fear in a moment like this.

Then followed by another volume of voices.

"Shit this is insane!"

"I just realized my homework was still in there! What am I gonna do! Shit, shit, SHIIIITT!"

"Oh thank god you're okay Gilda! You're okay!"

The vision showed a purple haired girl with glasses and a rainbow haired athlete emerging from the doors as the flames consumed half of the building. A fiery head figure was the last to leave but she suddenly stopped.

She heard faint screams. It sounded awfully familiar.

"Someone's trapped in there! I have to go back!"

"It's too dangerous! Don't go!"

"I don't care! I'm not leaving them behind!"

"Sunset NOOO!!"

"DARLING, DON'T YOU GO IN THERE!"

"SUNNY COME BACK!!"

The smoke from the flames was slowly filling her lungs but she pushed through. Following the source of the screams.

Until it stopped. But considering she just stopped by the doors that led to the gym, it gave her an idea now knowing they're hold up in there.

Fighting through the fires spreading of what's left of the gym. And she stumbled over another set of doors, leading her to the changing rooms.

She struggled to breathe through the smoke. Running through the halls and something hit her legs and tripping her, she looked at the cause of it being a preteen in a fetal position. She looked hopeless at first but that turned into surprise when the teen saw Sunset.

"Let's get you out of here. Come on."

She tries to lift her up but the girl screamed in pain when her feet touched the ground,  fell back tobs. She reached her for her right foot in pain.

"I...can't! My ankle hurts!"

She observed her tight grip on her foot, she needed to think fast. Until one thought came to mind.

Sunset grabbed her back with her one arm and the other carrying her legs, lifting her up via bridal style.

"Hold tight. We're getting out of here!"

Kicking down the door open and run through the hellish flames, smoke came by and slowly suffocating her but she kept going. And going. And holding her tight as firm as she could muster.

Some parts of the ceilings collapsed and nearly fell onto to them, making them dodge the debris and falling on her back sunsetscreamed in pain because of the girl's weight landing on top of her

The kid gasped in horror. "Oh god are you okay?!"

"I'll be fine..."

But her ears picked up a sound that cranked up her fear to eleven. She looked back to find a flammable tank being consumed by the flames, the sound of its gas escaping through a tiny hole made her feel the weight in her stomach.

She did the last thing her body tells her to do.

"GET DOWN!!!"

Sunset held her down and used her own back to shield this girl. She shut her eyes tight, bracing herself for what she feared will happen.

And it came to her with a bang. And it certainly hurt like hell even more than being blasted by a rainbow laser a long time ago.

She landed on her left shoulder with a big thud .

"Ah heard voices! They're over here- oh no...SUNSET!!! THEY NEED HELP QUICK!!"

But she paid no mind to the voice her ears filled with a high pitched ringing, the last thing she saw was the girl lying next to her with a big gash on her forehead.

"Diamond...Tiara..."

Everything went black again.



Sunset Shimmer gasped as she jolted up. Her breathing was excessive she couldn't process on where she was right now. However, she stopped when she felt a slight pain in her head, she moaned and slowly rubbed her head.

After the pain was gone, she opened her eyes again to process where she's atnow, and hoped she's not dead or something.

Firstly, she felt something on her right arm, gently pulling the blanket covers to see her arm was covered with a long cast that reached to her elbow.

So she's not dead after all.

It took her ten seconds to realized she's in a bed, and judging by the structure of the room she's in, she figured this might be the hospital.
The sounds of moaning turned her attention to another girl who also woke up from her own coma, the sight of the large amount ofgauze on her forehead reminded her of that last moment Sunset saw her before passing out.

Diamond moaned, "Oww...where am I...?" She groggily opened her eyes to see herself in bed, and then to Sunset. "Oh, it's you." She mumbled.

That tone suggested she might be miserable over the whole thing. It broke Sunset's heart hearing that, it sounded like she's heavily affected by what happened. In which it's true.

A part of her was a little scared of moving her body since she doesn't know what other fractures she suffered. But seeing this girl went through a lot lately at a young age, that she couldn't bear.

So she worked up the courage and yanked away her blanket, in which it revealed that some bandages were covering her legs. She stood up and went over to Diamond who noticed her approaching.

"Hey," she tried to greet first. "How are you feeling?"

"It felt like I got crushed to death by a train," Sunset replied quietly, at least that's what she felt. She went over and took a seat on a chair next to her. "But I should be asking you the same."

Diamond examine her own features, firstly with the gauze on her, and also something on her foot, she pulls the blanket covering her feet to find a cast strapped on her injury, remembering her sprained ankle. She shook her head.

"I felt like I came back from the dead, not in a good way." She grumbled to herself and the pain still lingering from that incident.

After a minute of silence, she spoke again. "Do you need something? Anything?"

Diamond thought about it for a moment, it would've been longer if her stomach didn't make a grumbling sound like it did just now.

"I guess some food sounds alright." She answered.

Sunset stood up and look around, sure it's dark but there's got to be something to call the nurse and let them know they're awake. But before she does so, there's items laying on the desk across the room. When she took a look at them, they all came from her friends, with notes they each wrote out next their gifts.

She took a purple note from a small bottle of pills and read: You gave us quite a scare, but thank god you're alright. If you feel a strong sense of pain, make sure you take these painkillers, one bottle per day. And also eat your greens.

Twilight Sparkle.

Next, she gazed to a two soda cans and a blue note: Figured we'd be long gone before you're awake. So I left you two a little somethin' somethin'."

Rainbow Dash.

Huh, how long they've been out? She looked up to find a clock hanging by the wall, the time says it's two in the morning so there's that. She returned to the items find a fresh pie in plastic cover with a grey note.

Apple Bloom taught me how to bake this. And Sunset, thank you for saving her, I thought she was gone forever but I'm very relieved she's alive. Please take care of her for me.

Silver Spoon

This tells her something might be up between these two, but she'll worry about it later, she grabbed both the items and went back to Diamond.

"Hey, look at what our friends left for us." She said, placing them on a table next to her coma.

Diamond raised her eyebrow. "Our?"

Her question made her confused. "Uh, yeah. I meant to include Silver Spoon, she even made this pie. Isn't she with you, right?"

The mention of her name made Diamond depressed, and so does looking at that pie. "We used to, but not anymore." She hugged her arms.

That hit Sunset right in her feelings. She could relate to something that with her.

She continued, "Truth was," she hesitated for a moment. "I'm also a jerk. Silver had to put up with my past misdeeds for so long until she had enough and cut ties from me. That moment alone made me realized how terrible I am, even to this day."

Sunset listened coherently, understanding exactly what she felt.

"Even when I tried to change myself into a good person, nothing I do is working" she said. "No one believes that I changed, including her." She winced when referring to Silver. "It driven me to the point where there's no point at all to keep going." She stopped for a moment, tearing up of what she'll say next. "I tried taking the easy way."

Sunset was taken aback by what she heard, knowing what she meant by that. To further proved her claims, Diamond rolled up her sleeves to see small bandages that covered her arms.

Diamond derpessingly shook her head. "I suppose they patched this up when we got here but the point is, I've been cutting myself since I gave up trying. These are where the cuts used to be at."

She puts them down and looks away from Sunset. "When Ms. Cherilee caught me cutting in the library, she was so horrified that she immediately tried to help but I pushed her away and ran. I ran as fast I couldBeing  to upset to focus on where I was going i tripped spraining my ankle . That's when I found myself in the gym changing rooms. I was in pain because of the cuts and my ankle, all I could do was cry. I stayed long enough until the fire started before I realized I was trapped," she sobbed with her voice shaking. "I kept calling, screaming, begging for help. But no one came, I figured why should anyone care about me after what I've done? So I stayed still, waiting for the flames to come and take me away."

Sunset was extremely saddened to hear it all. She had experiences of considering suicide before, but she never thought Diamond sitting back there was just waiting to die. hits harder like getting hit by a train. On the surface, she seemed like a scared girl who's unable to escape from that situation, only to realize beneath that, she's a very depressed kid who wanted to change but no one believed her, when everything became too much, she tried to end it all. And the last thing she tried was letting the flames to consumed her.

"I cared." That response surprised Diamond as Sunset grasped on her shoulder. "While no one gave a damn about you, I'm the one who does."

"But why?" She demanded. "Why do you cared so much even when we never talked with each other?" Sunset shook her head in response.

Sunset sighed. "I cared because you're in the same position as I was, remember the Fall Formal?" Diamond nodded, how could she forget? "Exactly, at the time, I never thought I deserved friendship, not after everything I've done. At one point, I tried to cut myself with a razor." Diamond was horrified by that. She used a bread knife when she cut herself but a razor? That's a bit much, even if it was, she would've end herself much quicker.

Sunset frowned. "I was fortunate enough that I had to stop since it hurt like hell." She grimaced at that memory. "Then during the Battle of the Bands, someone came and told me something that would change my life forever. She said no matter what, I had to stay the girls, no matter how many times they brought up my past, or made me feel unwelcome, because in the end they never sold me out or anything like that. I was glad I took that advice to heart, otherwise, I wouldn't save all of you from the sirens. And I would be long dead by now."

"I have no idea..." she muttered in disbelief.

"Also, you're young. You have so much life ahead of you, so many great things you could still learn." Sunset pointed out. "Kid, you have a heart, you can be a good person. Anyone can do good things but only those who are genuine of their change of heart is learning to be better. That includes you."

Diamond stopped for a moment and thought about her wisdom. "Apart from my parents, I don't have anyone to turn to when it comes to this. I wanted to believe you but," she paused and lowered her head. "Small part of me couldn't do so." But she felt a hand lifting her chin up.

Sunset gave her a small smile. "If that's not enough, I even covered you from that explosion, so you won't suffered as much as I right now. I even knew I'll probably died from that, I never expected to get this instead," She gestured to her injured arm. "honestly as long as you're okay, this was totally worth it."

But she frowned again when she stared at her forehead. "But I didn't protect you good enough you still got a big bump in your head. I'm very sorry about that."

That's when Diamond finally realized she actually cared after all. So for the first time in a long time, she smiled. "You kept us safe long enough for more help to arrive. So at this point, you're all I have right now. Not because I don't have anyone else, but because you cared."

And much to her surprised, Diamond gave her a hug, (being mindful about her arm). Sunset accepted it and returned the gesture, especially this spoke volumes how much Diamond longed for someone who cared about her.

For a full minute, Sunset spoke up, "Still hungry?" She gets a nod as an answer.

When they finished eating for an half an hour later Diamond felt tired and she laid back into her bed. But the incident still lingered in the back of her head, refused to let her sleep.
"Sunset?"

Sunset turned her attention away from her soda. "Yes?"

She adjusted her head in the pillow. "What happened back there messed me up," she conceded. "How can I live when I felt this way? What's it called when trauma can't fully heal?"

Sunset frowned. "It's called scarred," she explained. "I felt that too. And unfortunately that's for life." But her expression turned to an encouraging look. "But we can push through together. All we have to do was take one day at a time. Things may not be okay right now, but if we take things slow and steady to move forward, eventually it can."

Diamond agreed, "Sounds about right."

"And just remember, if you need me, I'm only one call away." She gave wink and Diamond smirked at that.

"What, you're gonna be there to save the day?"

Sunset catches on to what she's referencing to, so she remarked, "Well, that's if Superman ain't got nothing on me."

Diamond chuckles at that. "You like referencing song lyrics? Silver and I used to do that before. Well here's my favorite lyrics of a song named after me and I'm referencing them now." she cleared her throat first. "No matter what happened in the past, we shine bright like a diamond, nothing can hold us down, because you and I, we're like diamonds in the sky."

Sunset was impressed. "Wow, sounds very inspiring. So we're gonna shine like you?"

"Oh, we'll shine more than that." She replied with a cheeky grin.

Sunset giggled. "Oh, I bet we will."

Diamond yawned. "Oh and Sunset, one more thing?" She requested. "When we leave here, I might need someone to look up to. You know, like a role model. I thought I might look you up."

Sunset's heart melt at that. Of course she's definitely looking out for her. "Yeah you do that, kid."

Diamond took one more stare at her before her eyelids got heavy. "Thank you." Her whisper escaped her lips before falling into a peaceful slumber.

Sunset watched blissfully now she's finally in peace. She stayed in her chair next to Diamond. Even if she'll have to sleep in one spot, she'll gladly do it so Diamond won't be alone again.

There's a slight chance the nightmares might come but hopefully, they don't last for long.

Because the kid's right. We shine bright like a diamond, the past won't hold us down as we move up. We're like diamonds in the sky.

Soon, her eyelids also weighs down, but not before playing her last thoughts before drifting to her slumber.

We shine bright like a diamond.