Sunset raced to her locker, thankfully without interruption. Once there, Sunset set down her backpack, quickly taking out the books, Applejack’s letter, and the Fuchsia Divaricata. Sunset put everything into her locker except the poisonous plant and mortar. She very quickly crushed up the plant and added it to her water flask, placing it into her left inside jacket pocket once finished.

“You're going to pay for what you posted about our mom,” a masculine, angry voice said suddenly, and Sunset felt herself get grabbed from behind. “I’ll make you pay for what you did to this school, Anon-a-Miss.” The assailant wrenched her head backwards, and Sunset’s eyes locked with Dumbbell's for a split second. “This is for making a fool out of me and everyone at this school, you little bitch!”

Dumbbell slammed Sunset's head into her locker. Pulling her head back for another strike, he noticed that instead of anger or fear, sorrow was all he saw in her cyan eyes. He yelled, “What’s wrong, Sunset? Not gonna fight back? You're just gonna take your punishment? Fine by me!”

Dumbbell brought Sunset’s head down again, hitting her locker with a loud, sickening thud. The sound attracted students to the fight, each of them chanting, "Fight. Fight. Fight," on and on. Dumbbell his confidence rising with the chant, let go of Sunset, allowing her to slump against her locker.

With her back against her locker, Sunset said, “You're just like me, Dumbbell: just a lost, scared child.” Getting up and spitting at him, Sunset continued as the glob hit Dumbbell in the face, “One day, this school will see it, and then, you’ll lose everything. Just like I did.” Looking down, whatever fight she had in her left her, and Sunset continued, “So, go ahead. Do whatever you want. It doesn’t matter anymore.”

Furious at being spit on and at Sunset's insults, Dumbbell quickly landed another punch, followed by stomping on her left ankle. He threw another punch, breaking her nose and sending her spinning to the floor. As she fell, her right eye hit the staple of her padlock, and she saw stars as she hit the floor.

“Come on, Sunset. This isn’t going to be any fun if you don’t fight back.” Dumbbell taunted as he lunged in, hitting Sunset's back several times. His powerful hands felt like bricks on her spine. “I’ll show you what we do to cyberbullies.”

Sunset didn’t bother to move out of the way, instead allowing Dumbbell to barrage her and scream profanities at her. The crowd cheered him on as he screamed, “WHY WON’T YOU FIGHT BACK, YOU BITCH?”

Grabbing Sunset by her hair again, Dumbbell yanked Sunset’s head back, again locking eyes with her. Only this time, instead of sadness, Dumbbell saw something that made him even more angry. Sunset actually smiled as she said softly, “What you're doing to me doesn’t matter. I lost everything, Dumbbell. I just don't care anymore.”

Dumbbell thrust her head forward. “YOU!” He pulled her head back for another strike. “WILL!” He slammed her head forward again. “SCREAM!” Dumbbell pulled Sunset's head back for a third strike. “FOR!” This time, her right eye caught the padlock's staple again, and this time, a sickening crack was heard. “ME!”

Letting go of Sunset, he watched as she hit the ground with a thud. Before she could relax, Dumbbell began to kick her hard in the ribs. He continued to kick her until he was sure her ribs were broken. Bending down, and grabbing her by the arm, Dumbbell dragged Sunset over to a nearby display case. Before anyone could say anything or try to stop him, Dumbbell threw Sunset face-first into the display case with all his might. The glass of the case broke upon impact, badly cutting up her face. As blood gushed from her face and scalp, Sunset heard the students start to praise Dumbbell.

“Yeah, beat her up real good, Dumbbell!”

“Yeah, teach Anon-a-Miss a lesson! Make that little bitch pay for what she did to us!”

"Finally, Anon-a-Miss is getting what's coming to her!"

Sunset was barely able to open her right eye as she scanned the surrounding students for any sign of her former friends. Seeing Rainbow standing in the growing crowd, Sunset reached out for her. “Rainbow, please,” Sunset coughed as she felt Dumbbell's foot collide with her right knee, twisting her knee badly. “I need you, Rainbow.”

"Finally calling for help, huh?" Dumbbell quickly grabbed Sunset's outstretched hand and broke three of her fingers. With a sick laugh, he sneered as she screamed, “How did that feel, you little cunt? I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did.”

Dumbbell hoisted Sunset up onto her feet again, landing another blow to her right eye, followed by a knee to her stomach. Sunset toppled over, hitting the ground with a thump. Sunset laid motionless while she felt Dumbbell kick her multiple times in her stomach and ribs, each blow getting more and more powerful and difficult to withstand. She closed her eyes, praying for it all to be over soon.

Fluttershy having gotten to the fight too late to stop it, yelled out to her, “For God's sake, Sunset, fight back!” Turning to the crowd, she cried as tears fell down her cheeks, “Someone, please, help her! This is awful!”

Dumbbell laughed coldly, picking her up again and slamming her face-first into a wall, breaking and chipping several of her teeth. Again, Sunset heard Fluttershy’s voice crying out to the crowd, “Please, someone help her!”

“Rainbow.” Sunset once again tried to reach out to her, only to watch Rainbow walk away from her. “I'm begging you, Rainbow.”

Slumping to the side from the multiple blows she was taking, the Demon's Heart rolled out of her pocket, stopping a short distance away. Worried, Sunset rolled over to her stomach, crawling towards the Demon's Heart.

“Where do you think you're going, you whore?” Dumbbell sneered as he watched her try to crawl away. “I'm not done with you yet. Not by a long shot.”

Seeing what Sunset was trying to reach for, Dumbbell stomped on her hand to halt her progress. Standing over Sunset, Dumbbell knelt down picked it and said, “What have we here Sunset? Seems fancy. Must mean a lot to you if you're carrying it around with you.” Dumbbell smiled when he saw the needle-like point on the Demon's Heart. "Oh, but look at this. Looks kinda dangerous. If you're not careful, someone could get...hurt."

Sunset reached out for the Demon's Heart saying, “Please, you don't--”

“What, you want it back? Fine, here you go!” Before she could react, he slammed the point into her left shoulder just above her breast.

Feeling the Demon's Heart empty its contents into her body, Sunset screamed in pain as her body suddenly felt like someone had doused her in liquid fire. Dumbbell laughed wickedly as he watched Sunset roll around on the floor, screaming in pain. “Aww, does it hurt? Well, tough! You've hurt us for two whole years! It's about time someone pays you back.”

Fluttershy watched in horror while all the students gathered in the hallway chanted, "Do it. Do it. Do it.” Fluttershy looked around throughout the crowd, not noticing Vinyl coming up from behind Dumbbell. Fluttershy’s eyes soon fell to Applejack, who had turned away, too hurt and ashamed of herself to help Sunset.

As Sunset screamed in pain, her consciousness fading, she heard Fluttershy yell out, “Applejack, don’t just sit there! Do something, now!”

Before Applejack could do anything, Vinyl charged in, landing a clean right hook into Dumbbell's jaw. The blow sent him toppling backwards and falling to the ground. Getting back up, he laughed when she saw who hit him. “So you want to play too, huh?” Dumbbell chuckled coldly, “Well, fine with me, bitch.”

Before Vinyl had time to react, Dumbbell slammed her into a locker, dazing her. While she was dazed, he tossed her into a nearby, empty classroom before following her inside and shutting the door. As Vinyl came back to her sense, Dumbbell pushed her down onto the teacher's desk, pinning her arms. He leaned in, saying sickly. “I'm gonna enjoy this. Just like I enjoyed raping you two years back.”

Before continuing, he ripped her sunglasses off, looking her in the eyes. He saw defiance, but he also saw a hint of fear in her eyes. He smiled, practically tasting her fear, and he leaned in more closely, pressing his body against hers. Vinyl could feel Dumbbell's hot, stinking breath on her neck as he said to her with sick pleasure, “Remember that? I sure do. Fondly. And I almost got that hot, rich piece of ass Octavia, too.” Sneering in anger, he continued “Too bad Sunset showed up to stop me. Hard to believe big, bad Sunset could do something so noble, but whatever.”

Looking her right in the eyes, he reached into his pocket and pulled out a knife, holding it up for Vinyl to see. “You shouldn't have gotten involved, Vinyl. Because now, I get to cut you up even more.” He traced it along a very faded yet very familiar scar on her neck. “Maybe I can give this scar here a friend. I'm sure it's been lonely all these years. And you won't be able to scream this time, either. And after that, I can go back and finish what I started with Sunset.”

Vinyl, having heard enough, quickly planted her knee into Dumbbell's groin. The blow sent him toppling to the ground. While he writhed, Vinyl quickly ran out of the classroom. Dumbbell got up, flipping the knife open and placing it into a ice-pick hold. He walked out of the room and found Vinyl on top of the unconscious Sunset, shielding her. He approached her, not noticing that the crowd was gone or that Vinyl was looking somewhere past him. “You bitch! I’m gonna--”

His words fell short as he suddenly felt something cold, hard, and metallic pressing against the back of his head.

“All your going to do is drop the knife. Now!” The clicking of a gun's hammer caused Dumbbell to gulp in fear. “Drop it, or I'll shoot!” Dumbbell felt a hand on his right shoulder as the voice behind him continued bitterly, “Go ahead. Do something stupid, Dumbbell Stallion. I've been so wanting to do this to you for a long time.”

Next Chapter: Monastery (Edited by Icecreammac) Estimated time remaining: 13 Hours, 32 Minutes