Sunset sat alone in her dimly-lit room. The house was still and dead silent. Sunset sat on her bed, holding the wine bottle in her hands. It was red wine, Sunset saw, from the early 1800s. "That's good, right? The earlier the year, the better, right?" she thought. She smiled lightly to herself while placing the corkscrew to the cork. "Time to find out." She thought to herself. With a light twist to the right, she twisted the corkscrew into place, then shuddered slightly as she took a hold of the bottle in one hand while pulling with the other. The cork came loose with a soft pop, which broke the silence of her empty household. Holding the bottle up to her nose, she sniffed it. The wine smelled of fresh grapes and fruits.

Sniffing to herself as she let a tear fall, she muttered to herself before taking a sip, “I don’t care if mother and father get upset with me. I need this. They aren’t my real family anyway.”

Sunset grimaced slightly as the wine slid down the back of her throat. It tasted like fruit mixed with acid. Licking her lips, she thought, “Maybe it'll be better the second time.” Sunset lightly threw her head back, taking a bigger swallow than before. As the wine slid down the back of her throat, she coughed hard, nearly spitting up the wine and almost spilling the bottle on herself.

Setting the wine bottle down next to her bed, she shook her head, muttering to herself as she picked up the Scotch, “That was just...awful.” Taking up the glass in her left hand, she placed the bottle of Scotch between her legs to keep it in place. With her free hand, she opened the bottle of Scotch, saying to herself, “I hope this'll taste better than that damn wine Rarity gave me. How she can actually drink this shit is beyond me. How anyone can drink it is beyond me.”

Once the bottle of Scotch was open, she poured some of it into her glass, raised it to her lips, and sniffed the liquor. It had a sweet, pleasant aroma that reminded her of happier times in Equestria. Taking a sip, she smiled happily as the liquor slid down the back of her throat. Getting up, she took another, deeper gulp of the contents of her glass.

“This actually tastes pretty good. Kinda like cider from Equestria,” Sunset muttered as she moved to her door. Taking another gulp, this time finishing off what was in her glass, she continued, “I'm hungry. I’ll get something to eat and drink the rest downstairs.”

Heading downstairs, she soon found herself in the living room, pouring another amount of Scotch into her glass. Looking up, a single picture among all the others caught her attention. Setting the cup down on the coffee table, Sunset walked over to it.

The picture was of her parents Mr. and Mrs. Cake on their wedding day. Both looked very happy. Sunset began to tear up, and she turned from the picture with a slight huff. Walking back over to the coffee table, she snatched up the glass of Scotch, spilling some it onto the table. She raised it her lips, gulping it down quickly. Finished with her second glass of Scotch, she muttered, “I will never be happy. I will never have what they have. I only have this damn Scotch and these feelings of pain.”

Pouring herself another glass, she began to sniff softly as she looked at all the photos in the room. Her eyes finally fell to one photo. It was of her when she had won the crown from the first Fall Formal during her freshman year of Canterlot High school. Shuddering slightly, and wondering how it ended up in the Cakes' house, she walked up to the picture.

Sunset took the photot down from the wall with one hand while she held the glass in her other hand. Growing angry, she threw the picture against the far wall to her left. It hit the wall, and the frame shattered. Sunset screamed as she watched the photo land on the floor, “DAMN YOU, CELESTIA, YOU FUCKING HORSE’S CUNT! YOU DID THIS TO ME! YOU TURNED YOUR DAUGHTER INTO A MONSTER, DAMN YOU!”

Sunset gulped down her third glass of Scotch. As she began to feel slightly better, a song slowly began to form in her head. She walked over to the kitchen humming to herself as she poured another glass of Scotch. Opening the refrigerator, to her surprise, she found another bottle of Scotch inside the lower drawer, buried under two loaves of bread. Taking it out, she read the label. It read "Jack Stallions Alcohol, 160 proof".

Sniffling slightly as she wiped away a few tears from her eyes, Sunset poured what was left of it into her own bottle, then shook her bottle for a good mixing of both liquids. Taking a sip once she was done, she smiled at how good it tasted. The warmth of the alcohol began to take affect, and Sunset began to sing to herself.

“I sit alone on my throne of misery.
Anon-A-Miss, you took everything from me.
I sit alone, no friends at all to see.
Anon-a-Miss, you took everything from me.

How I wish I could knock you on your ass
For what you've taken from me.
But instead, I’ll just raise a glass
And toast you as I drink away
My pain today.

Anon-a-Miss, you took everything from me.
Did you think it was cool to fuck with me?
Did you think it was fun to screw with me?
Did you think it was right to take my life
And replace it with this fucking strife?

With a single stroke of a computer key,
You took her away from me.
I can still smell her rainbow hair.
The wonderful scent hangs heavy in the air.

How could you take her away from me like this?
But all I can do is raise a glass to you
And wish I could knock you on your ass.
You fucking cunt, you stole her from me.

You’ll just sit there on your throne,
Tossing me a bone labeled Misery.
And all I can do is raise my glass
As I drink away my pain today,
Wishing nothing more than to knock you on your ass.

You fucked up my hopes.
You fucked up my life.
All I have now is pain and strife.

But that's alright
Because I can simply drink away all the pain today.
Oh, yes, I can drink away all the pain today.
Just simply pour another glass
As I drink away my pain today.”

Sunset swallowed hard. As she raised her glass to her lips, a flashback of her and Rainbow lying in bed together caused her to drop the glass. Looking to her right, she spied the front door and muttered, “I have to find Rainbow. I have to make things right.” Sunset looked around, finding her coat in the foyer closet and her boots under the coat.

Slipping both boots on and slipping her coat on, Sunset soon found herself stumbling through the streets. With each stumble, she would stop take a drink from the bottle of Scotch she was carrying with her. Unaware of her location, she fumbled around for her phone in her coat pocket. Once she had her phone out, she tripped, dropping her phone into the snow. Angry, she muttered, “Blasted phone always getting away from me.”

Sunset tried to climb back to her feet, only to fall again. Sighing heavily, she smiled to herself, saying as she watched people pass her by, “Yep, I am so plastered.”

Trying again to get up, she again fell back to the sidewalk. Figuring that she wasn't going anywhere anytime soon, she took her coat off and placed it behind her head for a cushion. She leaned against a building, unaware that someone was coming up to her. Taking up the bottle again, she pressed it to her lips, drinking heavily from it. Her eyes began to blur as more tears slowly started to stream down her cheeks.

A soft voice called out to Sunset, getting her attention, “Sunset what in the world are you doing out here without your coat on?”

Looking up through eyes bloodshot from her few hours of crying and drinking, Sunset saw Cheerilee standing over her. A shocked look on her former teacher's face did little to dissuade Sunset from taking another drink. Kneeling down next to her, Cheerilee reached out to take the bottle away from Sunset as the teen tried to take another drink from it. Sunset pulled away slightly, spilling some of the liquor onto herself. It felt warm and sticky as it ran down her shirt, the bottle having been warmed by her hands.

Taking another drink, Sunset heard Cheerilee say gently to her as she placed her hand onto the bottle, “Alright, Sunset, everything’s going to be okay. Let me have the bottle.”

“You want some, too, Ms. Cheerilee?” Sunset slurred out. “I think I might have enough here for both of us. L-Let's get you a glassh.”

Cheerilee looked at her former student with very sad eyes. Carefully taking the bottle away from her, she set it down next to Sunset. Sunset looked up at her. With mascara running down her face, Sunset sobbed out, “Why did Anon-a-Miss have to wreck my life?”

“I don’t know, Sunset, but getting drunk and freezing to death won’t help you.”

Sunset tried to stand up, only to stumble forward, causing Cheerilee to reach out to catch her former student. Throwing one arm over Sunset's shoulder and taking her by the back of her waist, Cheerilee helped Sunset over to her car. Leaning the very drunk teen against her car, Cheerilee said lightly as she placed her hand onto the car door's handle. “Okay, just stand a few more seconds Sunset, and you’ll be in my nice, warm, safe car.”

Sunset snickered lightly, saying with very slurred speech, “C-Car? Where? I don’t see any car, Misheerilee.”

Sunset slid down the side of Cheerilee's car, crying as she hit the ground. Cheerilee heard the drunken teen say, “It’s my fault. All my fault. I don’t deserve to live.”

Cheerilee looked down at Sunset. Getting her passenger door open, she knelt down, saying softly, “Sunset, dear, it wasn’t your fault that Anon-a-Miss hurt you. You are not to blame for--”

“I killed him. I killed them all. I can't...I can't...” Sunset sobbed out, trying to finish her words, only to lean forward, passing out in Cheerilee’s arms.

Gently picking the teen up, Cheerilee placed Sunset into her car, started it up, and headed home. On the way, she called Principal Celestia to ask her to meet her at her house. Getting home an hour later, Cheerilee pulled into her driveway just as Principal Celestia and her sister arrived. The two got of Principal Celestia’s car, with Luna saying to her sister as they both rushed over to Cheerilee's car, “I hope Sunset will be alright. I don’t at all envy the headache she's going to have in the morning.”

“Nor do I, Luna. I just want to know where she got the alcohol from.”

The two helped to get the passed-out Sunset into Cheerilee’s home and into bed. Once she was safely tucked in, with a bucket provided for her to use when the time came, Luna, Cheerilee and Celestia all headed into the living room.

Cheerilee said as she looked at her friend and employer. “I was coming out of a store across the street from where I found her. At first, I thought it was just some random drunk trying to mess with my car. But when I saw it was Sunset, well, I couldn’t just leave her there without her coat or any means of protecting herself. You don’t know how bad the streets can be at this time of night.”

“Oh, we know how bad they can be, Ms. Cheerilee,” Luna said.

“I'll call her parents. They need to know that their daughter is safe and well, although I'm sure they'll have a few harsh words to say to her for getting drunk.”

“I think,” Celestia began, nervous at the thought she was about to state out loud, “we should at least wait until she's sober enough to talk to them coherently. At least let her sleep it off. Then, in the morning, we can call her family, but for now, with all that she has gone through, we should at least allow her to sleep.”

“Sister, we can’t coddle her,” Luna protested.

“We are not coddling her, Luna. We are simply providing her a safe place to recover. Besides, do you really think she wants to wake up in a hospital bed, surrounded by machines and nurses that will poke her and prod her and ask her personal questions?”

“Well, no, I suppose not, but I--”

“Look, Sunset needs to be in a safe, warm home for now. When we get to the car, we can call her parents, and then together, we all can sit her down and talk with her about this. Perhaps Sunset can help us find out who Anon-a-Miss really is.”

“Well, if you're sure about this, then I'll go along with it, but for the record, I still don’t like this idea.”

“Fair enough,” Celestia turned her attention to Ms. Cheerilee as she continued, “Now, Ms. Cheerilee, please call us if there is any change in her condition.”

“I will.”

Luna and Celestia left Cheerilee’s home, with Luna calling Sunset's father once the two sisters got to their car. Mr. Cake was understandably upset by Sunset's drinking and promised to be at Cheerilee’s house at nine in the morning on the dot.

Sunset spent the next few hours sleeping. Cheerilee slept in the room next to the one that Sunset was in, being sure to open the air vents in both rooms so she could listen if Sunset needed her for anything. Cheerilee spent the next few hours worrying about her former student before finally falling asleep herself.

Unbeknownst to Ms. Cheerilee as her eyes finally closed and she drifted off to sleep, Sunset was about to have a very frightening awakening.

Next Chapter: Evil (Edited and Titled by Icecreammac) Estimated time remaining: 15 Hours, 44 Minutes