Summer Sunrise and Gilda left their apartment shortly after Sombra had left, each more than a little worried about running into him. Summer had wanted to take the baseball bat with her, but Gilda made it clear to her that it needed to stay at the apartment. Getting outside, Summer looked around, making absolutely sure to keep Gilda out of sight until she was sure that the coast was clear. Once everything checked out, she signaled Gilda to join her out front in the parking lot.

The two were just headed towards the city bus stop when they both stopped, hearing a loud whistle from behind them. Turning around, Gilda saw her parole officer coming up behind her. Brushed Jade didn’t look happy at all.

“Officer Jade,” Gilda began, gulping. “Uh, what brings you out here? I thought our meeting--”

“Gilda Griffin, you are under arrest for petty theft and larceny,” Brushed Jade replied sternly, taking out her handcuffs as she approached Gilda. “You have the right to remain--”

Brushed was cut off when Summer suddenly lunged in, grabbing her by the throat. To Brushed Jade’s complete shock, she suddenly found herself hanging in the air by Summer’s hand as Summer stared coldly up at her.

“Leave or die. The choice is yours,” Summer spat out.

“NO! Put her down!” Summer looked at Gilda, shocked. “Please, Summer, don’t hurt her. She's my parole officer. I can’t afford for you to hurt her.”

Summer let Brushed Jade go, and Brushed Jade hit the ground with a loud, painful yelp. Before she could pick herself up from the ground, Summer lunged in again, swiping Brushed Jade's Glock from her holster. Summer Sunrise smirked while she held the weapon in her hands, showing it to Brushed Jade, who took a step back after picking herself up from the ground. Brushed Jade held up one hand, palm facing Summer Sunrise while coughing badly with her damaged throat.

“Nice, Summer, now we're both screwed,” Gilda snarled bitterly, throwing her arms up in disgust. “Why the hell did you take her gun?”

"Don't shoot!" Brushed Jade begged, "If you put it down, I can--"

Brushed Jade was cut off and left speechless as Summer bent her gun in a half-circle without breaking a sweat. Dropping the piece of mangled metal on the ground, Summer again lunged in, landing a clean right hook to Brushed Jade's head, striking the woman in the right temple. Gilda looked at Summer angrily, saying "Are you done yet? You wanna get us in any more trouble?” Without waiting for an answer, Gilda knelt down, sighing with relief when she saw that Brushed Jade was still alive. Once she was satisfied that Brushed Jade was only unconscious, she grabbed Sunrise by the arm and rushed to the bus stop.

The bus came a few moments later, and the two boarded it. Gilda took a seat next to a window. Looking out the window, she grumbled out, “Why did you attack Officer Jade like that, Summer? You could've killed her! Not to mention that we're both in so much trouble now!”

Summer took her seat across from Gilda. Looking out the window, she said softly to herself, “Where are you, Fourteen?”

“Summer, will forget about this Fourteen for one damn second!” Gilda’s angry voice instantly snapped Summer Sunrise back to her current situation. “Because of what you did back there, we have to find a new place to stay! Fucking hell, we can’t even collect our stuff now!” Gilda looked out the window, letting out a sigh. “Thanks, Summer. Thanks so very fucking much for fucking up our day like that!”

“What in Tartarus did you expect me to do, Gilda? I was NOT about to let that bitch hurt you. Thanks to me, she knows not to mess with you.”

“No, thanks to you, I'll be going to Bell River prison, and you'll probably be right behind me in cuffs. So thanks for fucking up my life, Summer.”

Gilda sat back in her seat, silently watching the buildings pass her by. Summer Sunrise looked out the window next to her again, then down at her lap, saying softly, “I'm so alone in this world, Gilda. I didn’t want to risk losing you. I made a promise to you that I wouldn't let anyone or anything hurt you, and I intend to keep that promise."

“Yeah, sure you do, Summer. Look, you can’t do that again. If Officer Jade shows up again, you need to promise me you’ll leave her alone and let her take me in. I know why she was at our apartment. She must have found out about what we did at the mall, and since I'm on parole, that means she's gonna take me back to jail. And I pretty sure I'm gonna be in prison for the whole sentence this time.”

“No! I won’t allow her to take you away like some dog in the street! I-I’ll do whatever it takes to keep you out of the dungeon.”

Gilda shook her head. Seeing that their stop was coming up, she reached up and pulled the stop cord. When the bus stopped, she got up and said bitterly to Summer Sunrise, “You coming or not?”

Summer Sunrise got up and followed Gilda off the bus and down the sidewalk towards a large, wooden stage. Looking around, Gilda turned to face Summer as she said, “This is it. This is the place that was in that video you saw on my laptop, which by now is more than likely at police headquarters. So, thanks for that, too. Now I have to go and steal another laptop, Summer.”

Summer Sunrise paid no attention to Gilda's ramblings, too focused on something that had caught her eye. Gilda watched as Summer headed up the stage towards its center, knelt down, and began to retrieve something from in between the floorboards. Looking up, Summer Sunrise saw that Gilda had followed her up to the center of the stage.

"Well? What'd you find?" Gilda asked.

“I’ll show you, but I don't think you'll believe me when I tell you what it's for.”

“Summer, I've already seen you take out six cops with your bare hands. I watched as you bent Officer Jade's gun in a half-circle. You're, like, superhumanly strong. I've seen a lot of things I didn't think I'd believe. So just try me.”

Summer Sunrise stood up and said, “This is a heart crystal. There were many rumors surrounding the creatures that used it.”

Gilda looked at the crystal, which had cracks all over it, then back up at Summer Sunrise. Seeing no signs of deception on her face, Gilda said, “Okay, so it looks like someone already used it, though it doesn’t look like it can be used for anything now.”

“That's because it's broken. Once repaired, it can allow a siren to feed on negative energy. It can also be used to track down other sirens.”

“Umm, okay, if you say so, Summer.”

“See, I told you that you wouldn’t believe me. It doesn't matter, though. I would like to know where Fourteen is. I think you said something about her attending school around here.”

“I didn't say that. Sombra did. There's a school not far from here.” Gilda looked around, then started to head off the stage, turning back when she realized that Summer Sunrise wasn’t following her. “You coming or what? I don’t wanna spend the night on the streets, and we need to get to a homeless shelter before dark, so come on, already. Let's go.”

“What? Oh, right.” Summer pocketed the red, crystal shard, then headed in the same direction that Gilda was going. “I can’t believe our good fortune, Gilda.”

“GOOD FORTUNE!?” Gilda exclaimed, her eyes going wide and her jaw nearly dropping. “What the fuck is wrong with you, Summer?” Gilda stopped in her tracks, turned, and looked at Summer Sunrise with pure anger in her eyes. “We lost our home, we're on the run from my parole officer-- who, by the fucking way, doesn’t give up so easily--and all we have to fucking show for it is some stupid crystal!” Looking down, Gilda closed her eyes as she continued, “I don’t call any of that ‘good fortune’, Summer. In fact, I'd call it really pathetic.”

Summer Sunrise shook her head and walked past Gilda, giving her roommate a few moments alone to stew in her own anger. A few moments went by before Gilda turned and ran after Summer Sunrise. Catching up to her a few moments later, Gilda led her towards Canterlot High school, saying as they began to approach the school together, “I went to school with Crash back when we lived in Griffon Rock together.”

“Oh, so, she's, what, your sister, then?”

“That bitch is not my sister.” Gilda stopped in her tracks, a look of unease coming over her face. “We were tight once, before some girl got in between what we had together.”

“Really? What happened?”

“I got busted for having drugs and weapons in my bag. I took them from my brother’s bag. I didn’t know what else to do with them, so I stupidly brought them to school, thinking that if I gave them to my teachers, they would tell me what to do with them.” Gilda sighed, then continued, “It didn’t go as I thought it would. Crash turned me in, and I got kicked out of school. I haven't really seen much of that bitch after I put her in the hospital for turning me in like that and breaking my heart. I thought we where friends, but I learned that day you can only count on one person in this damn world.”

"Who?"

"Yourself, Summer! You can't count on anyone other than yourself. Trusting other people just gets you hurt."

Summer smirked slightly, something that Gilda picked up on. Gilda glared back at her with anger in her eyes. Clearing her throat, Summer said, “I see. So, umm, how did you wind up on the streets, then? I mean that's what that guy said to you while we were back at your place, right?”

“Yeah. After my parents found out what I did, they kicked me out. My grandfather tried to raise me, but I was always on the move, ya know? Can’t keep this girl tied to one place for too long. So, I wound up on the streets and met Sombra. Eventually, I met you, and the rest is history.”

Somewhat disappointed in the bare-bones story, Summer said, “Uh, okay, if you say so.”

The two continued shortly afterwards towards Canterlot High School, getting there just as the fourth-period bell rang out, signaling that it was lunch time. Summer Sunrise stopped when she saw Sunset coming out of the front of the school, taking a seat next to the portal. Sunset looked slightly happy and hurt at the same time. Gilda nudged Summer, in the ribs, saying to her through gritted teeth, “Well, what are you waiting for? Go talk to her.”

“I don’t believe it. It’s really her. She really is living in this area.” Summer watched as Sunset began to eat her lunch alone. “She looks so lonely. So sad.” Summer continued to watch as students passing by Sunset glaring at her. Some even stopped in front of her and gave her a hand gesture that Summer Sunrise didn’t recognize. “I don’t get it. She looked so happy in the video. What happened to cause her to feel so sad?”

Gilda and Summer Sunrise could only stand in silence as they both watched Sunset eat her lunch. It was clear to Summer Sunrise that Sunset looked upset, but wanting to know more about her problems did little to ease her mind about her own needs. Gilda tried several times to get Summer Sunrise to walk across the street, yet failed at each attempt. Just as Gilda gave up completely, the school's bell rang out, and the two were left to watch as Sunset got up from where she was sitting, dusted herself off, and headed inside. Gilda glared at Summer Sunrise, who simply paid her no attention. Summer Sunrise lowered her head, turned, and began to walk away.

Following Summer Sunrise, and wanting to break the silence, Gilda asked, "What did you mean when you said you made a promise to me?"

Next Chapter: Storming Winds (Edited By Icecreammac) Estimated time remaining: 17 Hours, 24 Minutes