“Celestia, it’s Luna. The fight's over. I have the students who started the food fight in your office.”

Principal Celestia let go of Twilight, took out her radio, and replied, “Copy that, Lu--”

“I also have Anon-a-Miss in your office.”

Everyone paused, shocked at the news, except for Mr. Cake, who looked more upset than anything else. Before Principal Celestia could stop him, Mr. Cake grabbed her radio.

“Bring her to the hospital,” Mr. Cake snarled bitterly into the device, “I want that brat to see what her bullying has done to my daughter!”

“Carrot!” Mrs. Cake screamed out in anger. “I don’t want that monster anywhere near our baby.”

Mr. Cake looked to his wife, who stared bitterly back at him. As they stared each other down, Twilight said softly, “If you two are going to fight, please do it elsewhere. This is neither the time nor the place.”

Mr. Cake, backing down, gave the radio back to Celestia, who quickly said into it, “Uh, do you copy that, Luna?”

“Who was that, Celestia? And yes, I do. I’ll have them there as soon as I am done dismissing school.”

Thinking that now was a good time to let Sunset rest, Mrs. Cake stepped forward, knelt down, and gently kissed Sunset on her forward. “Mother will be back soon, honey. Don’t you worry. You just rest now. This will all be over soon.”

Mr. Cake held the door open for his wife, looking back at Sunset as she lay in her bed. As Principal Celestia and Mrs. Cake both walked by him, he said, “Twilight, are you coming?”

Twilight didn't look away from Sunset. “No. I want to stay here with Sunset. Is that okay?”

“That's fine. I'll have Celestia and Luna bring these people here to see Sunset so they can see the results of their bullying.” Before stepping out into the hallway to join the others, Mr. Cake added, “Then, they can go to jail for this outrage.”

With everyone gone, Twilight quickly set down her backpack, took out a vial of the Tears of Hope, saying as she popped the cork, “Please let this work. I know this might be very dangerous since we haven't tested it in this world, but I have no choice. I can’t lose you, Sunset.” Twilight stifled a sob before continuing, “There's still so very much I want to show you and teach you about friendship.”

Twilight very quickly moved the air hose in Sunset's mouth to the right and poured the liquid into her mouth. Sunset's body glowed a soft, yellowish orange as Twilight muttered, being very careful not to spill any of the Tears of Hope, “Good, it's working. This should help her to wake up.” Twilight laid her hand on Sunset's and paused as Sunset winced in pain visibly. “She's still hurt. These Tears should've healed her body, too.” Twilight thought a bit. “Maybe... Maybe the Tears of Hope doesn't work on the human body, or maybe its magic is just weakened in this world. But she winced, so she felt that pain, so her brain seems to be healed at least a little. That's the most important thing, I suppose.”

Once she finished pouring the liquid into Sunset's mouth, Twilight took a step back and glanced out the window next to Sunset's bed and saw Sonata outside across the street, helping someone that looked exactly like Sunset to a nearby bus stop. Twilight exclaimed in shock, “What in Equestria!?”

Dropping the vial, Twilight looked back to Sunset, saying as she headed towards the door, “I’ll be back soon, Sunset. I have to talk with someone. I swear I’ll only be gone for a little bit!”

Sunset lay in silence for a short time, until she heard an eerily familiar voice say, “I thought that prissy little brat would never leave.” Sunset opened her eyes, taking notice right away that her right eye didn’t hurt anymore. “Now that she's gone, let's have ourselves a little chat, shall we?”

Sunset sat up as she stared coldly at her demon self, who was staring back with a wicked smirk on her face.
“What the fuck do you want?”

“Didn't you hear me? I said I want to talk. Nothing more, I promise.”

Sunset rolled her eyes in irritation and sat up, taking notice of Sonata walking toward the hospital. “Great, now I have to deal with the Dazzlings, too.” Sunset pinched the bridge of her nose. “Can this day get any worse?”

“Would you stop complaining? We have important things to talk about.”

“Alright, I get it, already! We need to talk, so talk!”

Sunset watched as her demonic self sat down next to her, sighing heavily. The demon stared long and hard at the floor in front of her before saying, “I don’t know if you'll believe me, and frankly, I don’t really care, either.” The demon looked up, but didn't make eye contact as she continued, “I want you to live, Sunset. Not just for myself, but for the both of us.”

Sunset, taken aback, stammered, “W-What did you just say?”

“I want you to live.” The demon hesitantly took Sunset's hand, and Sunset could feel the ice-cold touch of death mixed with the burning heat of fire in the touch. “Please, Sunset. I know you've been through a lot, but there's so much Twilight can teach you.”

Yanking her hand back, Sunset gulped, looking at the demon in both confusion and anger. “Why? Why do you want me to live? You've done nothing but hurt me!” Sunset got up and turned back toward the bed. Her anger immediately left her and was replaced with fear and confusion when she saw herself in the bed, still battered, still bruised, still beaten.

The demon capitalized on Sunset's pause and said, “I am a part of you, as you are a part of me. If you die, then I die with you, and I can’t have that.”

“Good!” Sunset snapped angrily, remembering the conversation and glaring at the demon. “You've been a complete monster and a total bitch! If my death will end your life, then so be it.” The demon backed away, not looking Sunset in the eyes. A single tear fell from her eye, though she clenched her teeth and tried desperately to hide it. “Are you crying? You, the big, bad demon, crying?” Sunset asked incredulously.

“Please, Sunset, I'm...I'm begging you. Don't end your life. Live.”

“No! There's nothing for me here! I have no reason to live, and every reason to die. And you've even given me a new reason, since dying will get rid of you, too.”

“You do have reasons to live! What about Twilight, and your parents? What about them?”

Sunset opened her mouth to answer, but stopped when Sonata entered the room with a doctor who seemed...off. Sunset and the demon watched as the doctor placed a needle into the bedridden Sunset's arm. Sunset winced, but immediately noticed that she felt no pain from the needle's entry. Looking to the demon in confusion, Sunset said, “What's going on. That didn't hurt at all.”

Before the demon could answer, both women heard a long, monotone sound. Sunset saw Sonata’s face going white with fear as she quickly said to the doctor, “Hurry it up!” Looking to the door as she heard footsteps drawing nearer, she continued. “We need to go now!” When the blood bag was full, she quickly said, “Put a bandage on her wound and let's go already!”

The doctor complied, and the two made a quick exit from Sunset’s room. Two doctors and two nurses came in a few moments after Sonata and her zombie doctor left the room. One doctor pressed a button on the wall next to the door yelling to a speaker panel, “Code Blue, Floor 2, Room 16! Repeat, Code Blue, Floor 2, Room 16!”

Next Chapter: Reasons to Live (Edited and Titled by Icecreammac) Estimated time remaining: 13 Hours, 9 Minutes