The first bell rang, signalling that there were five minutes until class was to begin. The door to the bathroom swung open, and a pair of boots squeaked as they skidded across the tile floor. A few seconds passed and her feet moved quickly; within another few heartbeats, she had already slid into an open stall and shut and locked the door.

She moved quickly to sit on the seat of the toilet, raising her legs and causing the denim to rub uncomfortably against her skin. She ignored the fabric’s pinch, and the beat of her heart against her shallow breaths. Her arms moved around to her backpack—shoved back and up to the tank of the toilet—and up to the zipper pouch on the front. Fingers fumbling at the zipper, she finally snaked around the loop and pulled it open—careful to move slowly to keep quiet. Her fingers moved further inside and closed in on the plastic cap of a bottle, and she pulled it out of the bag in one deft motion.

Hands shaking, she barely even glanced at the label as she pushed down on the child-proof lid and turned. She looked down as she let the small blue tablets slide into her left hand, first in a small stream and then one by one as she mentally counted them up. Ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen… that was about enough. Clenching the contents in her fist, she used her other hand to awkwardly screw the cap back on the bottle and she shoved it back into the pouch.

Letting out a breath, she opened her hand again and picked up one of the tablets. One by one, she put them in her mouth and dry-swallowed them as quickly as she could, barely even letting the bitterness linger at the roof of her mouth before moving onto the next. By the last one, she was letting out little coughs—but nothing major, nothing particularly out of the ordinary. Once they were all gone, she sat there for a moment in silence, swallowing in her dry, empty mouth.

And then the second bell rang. Outside, she could hear the sounds of students shuffling by, of doors opening and closing, of people talking to their friends and having lives.

And inside the stall, Sunset Shimmer let her legs fall loosely to the floor. A shiver tingled down her spine and though she knew that at first the feeling was just a placebo, that there was no way it had already kicked in… she leaned back, closed her eyes, and took a deep breath.

“Have any of you seen Sunset today?” Twilight Sparkle asked. She was sitting with her new friends in the cafeteria of Canterlot High, for it was lunchtime; most of the tables around them were filled with groups of students, chatting, eating, and working on homework. Twilight herself was unpacking her lunchbag, pulling out a water bottle and setting it to the side.

“We did,” came the reply, from Rarity. She nudged her head to the side a bit, gesturing towards Fluttershy. “She was in AP Comp first period. Only showed up just as the bell rang, though, so we didn’t get a chance to talk.”

Fluttershy finished taking a sip from her juicebox and set it down. “She looked tired,” she added.

“Sunset always looks tired,” Rainbow Dash remarked, rolling her eyes.

Twilight shot her a dirty glare, but turned back to Rarity. “Hum. She wasn’t in Physics… though I guess it was just a test prep session. Still…”

“Does your teacher make those optional?” Applejack inquired, looking up from her sandwich.

“Hah, as if,” Twilight replied. “But this is Sunset we’re talking about.”

“Ooh, right.” Applejack nodded. “I remember last year she skipped every Spanish class ’cept for the tests. Still got an A, too.”

Twilight shook her head. “Well, that’s one way to do it…”

“She was in P.E., though, wasn’t she?” Pinkie Pie piped up. She had been unusually quiet—and the other five girls only looked her way once she had spoken. “She wasn’t in my round of Horse, but I definitely saw her across the gym.”

“Yeah, she was busy giving Trixie the ol’ what-for,” Rainbow said, through bites of nachos. “Though she was in a big hurry to leave… think she was out of the locker room before most of the class was even out of the gym.”

“Well, that would explain why she isn’t here now,” Rarity said. “Twilight, dear, why do you ask?”

Twilight bit her lip, and looked down. “I’m just… concerned, that’s all.”

“You really think there’s somethin’ to be concerned about?” Applejack asked. “I mean, I know Sunset’s gone through a lot, but she’s a good friend and a good person. She seems to have her stuff together, ya know?”

Twilight looked up, and pushed her glasses up the bridge of her nose. “Yeah, you’re probably right. Still… I kind of get the feeling she’s been missing more classes lately than usual.”

“Probably just going through a rough patch.” Rainbow leaned back in her chair. “I mean, hey, it’s almost midterms. You should know as well as anybody how much she likes to hit the books when she needs to.”

“Who likes to hit what-now?” came a voice from behind one side of the table, and Twilight turned… to find herself face-to-face with a red-and-yellow-haired girl, clad in a leather jacket and a flowy blue skirt to match.

“Sunset!” Pinkie exclaimed. “We were wondering where you were!”

Sunset Shimmer let out a chuckle as she leaned down between Twilight and Rarity, gently resting her hands on their shoulders. “Just looking for you girls, of course. Well, after I had to talk to Ms. Cheerilee about a missing assignment from last week. But that’s all good now.”

“Glad to hear it,” Twilight replied. She turned her head to look up at Sunset, flashing her a squarish smile.

“Going to join us, then?” Rarity asked. “We’ve got plenty of room.”

“Yeah, lemme grab a seat,” Sunset replied. She stood back up and stepped away from the table, head turning to scout out the oh-so-precious resource in the school cafeteria.

As Sunset’s attention was turned away from the group, Twilight shot Rarity a sideways glance, and a frown. Rarity’s expression was hard to read, but she nodded, closing her eyes for a moment.

And, from behind them: “Hey, you using this chair?”

Twilight Sparkle was, for lack of a better word, bored. Not Crystal Prep-bored; the material was plenty challenging enough for her, and Principal Celestia made sure to check in with her every week to make sure that Twilight was satisfied with her placement in classes. Much more than Principal Cinch had ever done for her, that’s for sure. The thought that a public school principal would put in so much more effort than the well-endowed system of a private school was not really a surprise, but it still brought a smile to Twilight’s lips all the same.

“Ahem, Ms. Sparkle?” An impatient voice cut through her thoughts, stirring Twilight’s attention back to the chalkboard up at the front of the classroom where Ms. Harshwhinny was waiting. Her arms were crossed—and so was she, by the looks of it. “If you’re going to raise your hand, can you please make sure you have the answer?”

Twilight blinked, turning her head to see her outstretched arm beside her—apparently having leapt up of its own accord. Sheepishly, she lowered it. “Erm, what was the question, again?”

Ms. Harshwhinny grimaced, and then her eyes surveyed the rest of the students. “Lightning Dust?”

The brash green girl gave an answer, but Twilight had already zoned out again. Her thoughts wandered back to Sunset Shimmer… not that that was difficult, these days. Despite what the girls had said, that there probably wasn’t anything to worry about, Twilight wasn’t convinced. Sunset’s behaviour in the last few weeks had definitely been stranger than usual; the girl had always been jumpy, sure, but Twilight was finding her even antsier than herself. And the look of sheer exhaustion on Sunset’s face was something else entirely. Twilight’s eyes watched idly as Ms. Harshwhinny scratched numbers and letters onto the board, outlining the due date for their next assignment. Only a few days away, too; AP Comp was a cruel, unforgiving mistress. Sighing, she wrote it down in her planner and, at the sound of the bell, shoved her books into her backpack and stood up with the rest of the students.

The next class, AP Spanish, passed in a blur. Twilight’s brain clicked into Spanish mode and she spent almost the entire class working with Pinkie Pie on a dialogue, though they ran out of time to actually present it during that class period—so it would have to wait until the next day. The pair were as quick to leave the class as they had arrived, speedwalking through the halls during the passing period in an effort to reach their AP Euro class all the way on the other side of the building. On the way there, Rarity joined them, sliding quietly out of the home-ec room.

“Rarity!” Pinkie called as she saw the purple-haired girl ahead of them in the hallway.

“Hello, Pinkie,” Rarity greeted, turning towards them. “How was l’espagnol?”

“Très chic!” Pinkie exclaimed, grinning widely. Twilight just rolled her eyes.

“It was fine, we just worked on a dialogue,” Twilight explained. “How’s the dressmaking?”

“Good, good…” Rarity replied. “I had to help Mr. Toity with a bit of a… problem student in his advanced home-ec class, but I was able to make significant progress on this latest design. I still have a couple weeks until the Governor’s Show, anyway, so I’m still in good time.”

“Glad to hear it,” Twilight said, nodding. Pinkie started saying something else to Rarity, but Twilight’s gaze lingered on the girls’ restroom, which they were just passing. “Erm, girls?”

“Yes?” Rarity leaned her head back to look past Pinkie’s floofy hair.

“I’m, uh, going to use the bathroom,” Twilight said, pointing to the open door. “Catch you in class?”

Rarity and Pinkie shared a look, and then both looked back to Twilight with knowing smiles. “Proud of you, Twilight,” Rarity said.

“Do you think this is her first time?” Pinkie asked, eyes wide.

“Wh-what?” Twilight asked, flustered. “I-I’m just using the bathroom.”

“Oh, come on, Twilight, we know you’re cutting class,” Rarity assured her, putting a hand on the girl’s shoulder. “Don’t worry about it; we’ll tell Yearling you went home sick. They don’t call your parents until the fourth or fifth infraction, anyways.”

Twilight gulped, and nodded. “Th-thanks, girls.” She stood stock-still for a moment, watching as Pinkie and Rarity ambled away into the crowd down the hallway. Taking a deep breath, she turned away and stepped out of the throng, into the open door of the bathroom.

The first thing she noticed was the loud buzz of the lights above as they shone eerily down into every nook and cranny of the room. The second thing she noticed was Sunset Shimmer.

Her leather-jacket-clad friend was standing with her back perched over one of the sinks, hands tightly clasping the ceramic white edges. She didn’t seem to notice as Twilight stepped in, her gaze too focused on her own reflection in the mirror. Heart beating heavily in her chest, Twilight slowly took a few steps to the side, trying to get a look at Sunset’s face. As it came into view, she noticed the deep purplish bags under the girl’s eyes had grown—and, though it may have just been the light, her yellow complexion was looking particularly jaundiced. Twilight stood there a moment, studying the reflection of Sunset’s face.

Suddenly, Sunset’s eyes darted right. “Twilight,” she croaked. Her voice sounded dry and cracked, and Twilight watched as she closed her lips and seemed to swallow in her mouth. “H-how’s it going?” she managed to get out.

“Oh, um, fine,” Twilight said. Her heart was beating hard in her chest. “Just, uh, popping in to use the bathroom on my way to class.”

Sunset nodded, just as the second bell rang. “You, uh, might want to get on that. Don’t want to be late.”

Twilight nodded. “Erm, yeah. Thanks.” She turned towards one of the stalls, but then turned her head to look at Sunset. “We still on for physics studying this evening?”

Sunset blinked. “Oh, is the test tomorrow?” She coughed. “Yeah, yeah, that should be fine.” The girl turned as if to leave, but Twilight cleared her throat. “Um, yeah?” Sunset asked, looking over her shoulder.

“I was wondering… my parents are having guests over for dinner, so maybe we could do it at your apartment?” Twilight shifted nervously, wringing her hands together.

A deep breath. “You’re sure we can’t just keep out of their way?” Sunset asked.

“Y-Yeah,” Twilight stammered. “They kinda asked me as a favour… if I could go over to your place instead.”

Sunset nodded. “Okay, yeah. I’ll text you the address. See you at four, then?”

“See you then,” Twilight said, turning towards an open stall.

As she stepped in and closed the door behind her, she could hear Sunset’s boots squeak on the ground as the other girl sped out of the room. Soon, as the hustle and bustle of the students settled as the last stragglers made their way to their classrooms, Twilight Sparkle was left alone, standing in the bathroom stall in silence.

Author's Notes:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pu-neUmZ38w