The weekend had ended, and Sunset was tired from staying up late the night before, texting back and forth with Twilight until after midnight, but even exhaustion couldn’t make her stop smiling. It had just been such a good day the day before; when she closed her eyes she could almost feel the touch of lips on hers, could see the way Twilight looked at her. It suffused her soul with warmth and energy, perking her up enough to pull out her phone while she munched on breakfast at her desk.

-Thinking of you, Sparky.-

A minute later the response popped up. -Thinking of you too. Yesterday happened, right? It wasn't a dream?-

-Definitely not a dream, unless we were both having the same one about kissing on my couch. And in the shadow of your garage.-

-Good. Looking forward to this weekend. Friday at my house, Saturday at yours? We have a heater to take apart—I’m already looking through potential, cost effective upgrades! I’ll send you a list later!-

-You’re such a nerd.- Sunset sent with a playful smiley.

-But I’m your nerd, Sunny.-

Something sharp, hot, and possessive spiked through her when she got that message, and she responded immediately. -Yes, you are, Sparky, and don't you forget it.- She savored the knowledge and simple declaration. Twilight was hers, and that thought, weird and unwanted as it had been a few weeks ago, made her feel good.

-I wont forget, Sunset. Class soon. Hope your day goes well! Call when you get home?-

-I will.-

She tucked her phone away just in time to see Rarity come in and wave her way. “Good morning, darling! My, my, you look like you had a good weekend! Had some fun for a change? We missed you at the mall yesterday, I do so wish you could have joined us.”

Sunset laughed. “It was a good weekend—the best I’ve had in a while.” Then she deflected the topic back to Rarity to avoid prying questions. “So what did I miss at the mall?”

The designer launched into a detailed account of the events, seemingly oblivious to the subtle manipulation of the conversation. Sunset gave an internal sigh of relief—she was starting to really enjoy the company of some of the girls, but Twilight was still something she wanted to keep to herself. Especially now, because while she was pretty sure Applejack and the still silent Fluttershy would leave it alone, Rarity would hound her for more details, Pinkie would probably throw a party that would make her Twilight extremely confused and require Sunset to explain more than she was ready to, and Rainbow Dash? At this point, with the simmering mistrust and hostility, Rainbow would probably try to break them apart out of some misguided need to ‘save Twilight from She-Demon Shimmer.’

No. It was still for the best that no one at Canterlot High learn about her relationship or the girl she spent most of her free time with. Heat pooled in her gut, anger and defensiveness fighting for supremacy until she managed to get it under control. She would protect herself and her budding relationship with her friend at any cost—it was a vow she’d made after they'd first met, and she reminded herself of it now.

Rarity trailed off, a shiver passing over her. “I swear…I know there’s a budget for the district, but you would think they could spare a little more to keeping this place warmer in the winter! It’s freezing in here!”

She frowned. It felt normal in the room to her. “Maybe you feel a draft? It seems okay in here to me. Not toasty, but it’s still warmer than outside.”

“Perhaps, darling. This building is a bit drafty. Anyway, where was I?”

The conversation continued while other students filed into the classroom, stopping only when the teacher gave them a long look right before the morning announcements came on. Sunset only paid them half a mind; most were just the normal boring information and reminders about rules, policies, and dismissals. Towards the end, however, Luna yielded the floor to her sister, and Celestia’s cheerful voice rang through the room.

“Good morning, students! I have a very special announcement today—as a result of your interests and the efforts of your student council, CHS will be hosting a musical showcase as a fundraiser to make money for school activities such as clubs, dances, and other extracurricular events! So feel free to come to the office and sign up! Dates will be forthcoming but expect the event before winter break!”

There was a general low murmur from the room, and Sunset sighed, thinking of the guitars hanging in her apartment. She could sign up, play, but given the state of things, she’d probably lose money for the school. If she were even allowed to sign up—she wasn't sure exactly what fell under the ‘suspended from extra curricular school activities’ mandate that the Vice Principal had laid down, but she didn’t want to push her luck. Too bad too. It was one of the few hobbies she’d developed in this world that she’d really kept to after she’d mastered how to make hands work, and while she’d not yet played for an audience, she liked to think she was pretty good.

Sunset had come to dread opening her locker, especially close to lunch. A lot of people had a study period then, and she had to prepare herself for an avalanche of notes and torn paper scraps. Today proved no different, with the standard assortment of what she’d come to regard as ‘daily reminders,’ but near the bottom, she found a folded printout.

Confused, she unfolded the pages, and any sense of good mood vanished. Her stomach plummeted like a rock to the bottom of a lake, and her face burned with shame and self loathing.

In her hands was a collection of printouts from a webpage. More specifically, they were printouts from a social media group on MyStable, a social media site frequented by the local high-schoolers. The name of the group was self explanatory and fairly unoriginal, all in all—big, bold letters in the banner proclaimed the page “Shimmer Hate” coupled with one of her yearbook photos that had been photoshopped to add horns and demonic eyes. All the names and user icon photos had been blacked out before it was printed, but the long list of comments had been left alone, a detailed laundry-list of unloaded vitriol all centering around one person: her.

Her eyes were immediately wet with unshed tears, and she fought to rein them in before anyone could catch her moment of weakness. Shutting her locker door with more force than intended, she hurried to the nearest bathroom, locking herself in the far stall. She spent the rest of the study period in there, reading the stack of papers with dates that went back as far as the notes in her locker, tears streaming from her eyes and two knuckles jammed between her teeth to keep sound from escaping.

She remembered most of the incidents mentioned, but some of them she knew were an outright fabrication—she’d done horrible things, but she’d never physically assaulted anyone in school, she’d never threatened to out someone’s preference in romantic partners to their parents or the public, and she was more than positive she’d never used sexual favors to win votes for any of the Princess titles at the dances. It didn’t matter to this page and the people in it, though; they believed her capable of that and more.

And that was just the tip of the iceberg—after dozens of people had vented their stories to each other, a number of them had started describing all the horrible things they wished would happen to her, ranging from mild and mundane to the increasingly bizarre and horrific.

Any brightness that she’d been harboring that day was extinguished utterly, and all the unicorn-turned-teen-girl wanted to do was to go home, hide in her bed, and weep until she passed out. That looming test in her math class was the only real thing that made her pause—well, that, and the whisper of a voice that meant everything to her in her ears, giving her a lifeline when she needed it most. “No matter what anyone else thinks of you, you’re a good person to me.”

She dried her eyes, crumpled up the papers, and discarded them in the bathroom trash amidst paper towels, and left in a hurry to get to lunch. She never noticed the pair of eyes watching her go, or the hand that retrieved the papers from the trash.

Sunset dragged herself into the lunchroom, too drained to even care about the ugly glowers boring into her from all sides. After finding the printout in her locker, she was going through her day like an automaton, barely seeing or feeling anything. She practically collapsed into the seat that had become hers at the lunch table claimed by the girls, staring blankly at her lunch bag wondering if she even had it in her to eat.

Another body slammed into her from behind with a loud squeal. “Suuuuuuuuuuuuuunseeeeeeeeeeet!” Pinkie yelled enthusiastically, hugging the redhead with her usual exuberance. “There you are! I’ve been looking all over for you! See, I was in class, and my Pinkie Sense went off, and it told me that something was wrong and I needed to find you, so I skipped out and I’ve been looking for you ever since, but you weren’t in any of the usual spots, but then I realized it was almost lunchtime and you have a free period before lunch so you might’ve come here early, and it turns out I was right!!” A cupcake was placed with glee before Sunset’s nose—something that Pinkie had been doing since she started joining the girls for lunch, especially on the days Sunset was having a harder time than normal.

The redhead sighed. “Thanks, Pinkie.” She pasted a smile on her face that she didn’t really feel, trying to convince the pink girl that everything was normal.

For a moment, it seemed to work, as Pinkie sat down across from her…until the bubbly girl scrunched her brows. “Hmmm…” She stared hard at Sunset until the former unicorn started to squirm uncomfortably. Abruptly, Pinkie Pie hopped up and bounced around the table to grab her arm. “C’mon Sunset!” Without so much as an explanation, she started dragging her towards the doors.

“Wait…Pinkie! Where are you taking me?” she yelped, stumbling to keep up.

Pinkie Pie whipped around in the hallway and lowered her voice conspiratorially. “You and me are skipping! We have somewhere to be! Now let’s goooooo!”

Sunset found herself at the mercy of a teenage girl who had a grip a strongman would’ve been proud of. “Wait! Skip! Pinkie, I can’t! I’m already on thin ice with the Principals! Vice Principal Luna warned me not to—”

“Don’t you worry about that!” Pinkie grinned toothily. “I took care of that already!” They burst out of the doors, Pinkie waving cheerfully at a somewhat bemused looking Celestia. “See you for detention, Principal Celestia!” And then they were off.

Sunset, still completely at a loss for what was going on, found herself dragged hither and yon to a variety of nearby shops, starting with a party supply store. Pinkie Pie had made a huge production out of selecting her purchases, staring intently at the various party hats and noise makers with the same level of scrutiny Sunset had once attributed to wine connoisseurs in the aristocracy back in Equestria. Each package was studied, turned this way and that, most of them returned to the shelf within seconds. Any that passed Pinkie’s careful scrutiny were presented to the redhead with great ceremony for her opinion on which was best. Which was how she found herself once more with her personal space extremely violated by one Pinkamena Diane Pie, summer sky blue eyes wide with something akin to despair and horror.

“What do you mean, you’ve never had a real party before?”

She barely restrained her urge to skitter backwards, keeping it to a single step. “It was just never a big deal for me. Most of the parties I went to were as Princess Celestia’s student, and were big, fancy things. Not the kind with party hats and noisemakers and games.”

The pink girl’s expression turned slightly manic with glee. “You are in for a real treat then, Sunset Shimmer! Now tell me which of these you like more!” Once again, packages of supplies were thrust her way, prompting Sunset to pick the one with colors she liked more, since she had absolutely no other metric for how one was different than the other.

Pinkie finished loading their basket and whisked her to the counter, presenting the goodies to the shop owner working the register. There, Sunset was witness to a curious exchange that ended with Pinkie’s supplies being bagged and presented to her, free of charge. The first store it happened at, she said nothing…but when the same thing happened at the dollar store when Pinkie loaded up on a selection of small toys, and then at the Sugarcube Corner Bakery, she finally had to say something to the other girl to sate her curiosity.

“…Um…why are all these places just…giving you this stuff for free?”

“Because this is a special party, silly! Come on! We still have to go set up!”

By this time, Sunset had her arms loaded with shopping bags filled with all manner of random party supplies, toys, and games. Pinkie was carrying a stack of boxes filled with baked goods, including a large cake, and they had since turned the corner into the same section of town where Sunset lived. Her heart started to race with anxious worry that Pinkie had somehow learned where she lived and that this was a setup of some kind. The tension bled away some when they bypassed her street—she managed to refrain from sighing in relief, before staring at the back of Pinkie’s head of poofy hair. “Where are we going, Pinkie Pie? This isn’t the best place to be wandering around with our arms full.” Her eyes were scanning the area warily, keeping on the lookout for the same group of thugs that she’d saved Twilight from.

“Going? We’re here, silly! TADA!” Pinkie leaned forward to ring the bell on the building before them. Sunset blinked, looking up at it, and noticed the sign that proclaimed it “Starlight Foundation South Canterlot Foster Home For Girls.” A middle aged woman with dark skin and purple hair opened the door. “Hiiiii!! We’re here to set up—I’ve got all the stuff and I brought my friend Sunset with me!” Pinkie exclaimed joyfully, grinning at the woman in a way that suggested that they knew each other.

Sunset followed, confused, worried, and without any idea of what she had been dragged into. The what, it turned out, was a birthday party for a little girl of about eight or nine, which Pinkie Pie made her help set up for. The home was older, like most of the buildings in that section of the town, and it was large—Sunset was fairly sure her own loft building could fit inside it several times over without struggle, and she wondered briefly what the building had originally been built for. They were setting up the party in a dining room that had three large tables pushed to the wall to put food on and a fourth for gifts and games. Pinkie chattered at her the whole time, setup aided by three adult women that were introduced to Sunset as sisters, though she did not see even the barest hint of family resemblance between any of them.

“I do this all the time, help throw birthday parties for the kids here! It's a lot of fun and we always eat so much cake and play lots of games and I really think you’ll be surprised when they get here, Sunset! I get special permission from Principal Celestia to come do this when it falls during the week, and I told her I was gonna bring you with me today! If anyone asks, she said it counts as ‘Community Service Project Hours.’” Pinkie giggled and handed her balloons to tie to one of the chairs.

They had just finished the last of the preparations when the door to the group home opened and a group of young girls came streaming in, a woman’s voice following them. “Girls, the party isn’t going anywhere. Don’t run in the halls!”

Giggling voices called back in unison, “Yes, Miss Gem!”

And then the room was full of a dozen girls, the youngest not more than five or six, and the oldest about eleven. They all greeted Pinkie with happy familiarity, receiving party hats and favors, and it was about that time that Sunset decided to make herself less obvious in the nearest corner. It didn’t help. Inquisitive eyes of every color found her, and a ripple of something like shock and awe went through the room. Whispering girls glanced between her and each other, conferring in hushed voices.

“…is that…?”

“I think so. I saw her once, from across the street…Daisy pointed her out to me….”

“…did she come for the party?”

“…so cool…”

“…heard she saved a girl in the park…”

“I heard it was by the Stop’n’shop…”

Her head was spinning, and she couldn’t make it stop, until someone tugged on her jacket sleeve. She looked down into a set of big brown eyes. “…’Scuse me…Are you Sunset Shimmer?” the little girl asked. Sunset nodded slowly, not sure if this was about to end in tears or not, and the child’s face broke into a big smile as she threw her arms around Sunset in a hug. “Thank you, Miss Sunset! You stopped the mean kids and made them leave us alone! You’re the best! And you came for my birthday! This is the best present ever! Come on! I want you to sit next to me!”

Her brain caught up to reality—she had never given thought to what other people thought about her actions against the local teens who styled themselves a gang. She ran them off and stopped them for her own reasons; the prospect of a lasting reputation for it had never occurred to her in the slightest, certainly not here. The only girl from this house who knew first hand had been….Oh. She didn’t resist as the birthday girl pulled her across the room, into a knot of children all clamoring for her attention. Hugs from that many innocent bodies at once was a new experience for her, but not an entirely unwelcome one, and before she knew what was going on, she was fully immersed in the party.

The birthday girl—who informed her quite seriously that her name was Sweet Lotus and that she was nine years old that day—put a party hat on Sunset. “You can’t play the games without a party hat!” Only after the children had decided she was suitably attired as a party guest did they pull her into the games with them. There, the first hurdle came when she realized she had no understanding of any of the games presented.

Sweet Lotus squeezed her hand when she looked at the children in confusion, and another girl gave her a curious head tilt. “…Didn’t your parents teach you?”

Shame burned her ears, and Sunset found herself staring at her boots. “…no. I…don’t remember my parents…” The words escaped in a pained whisper before she could halt her traitorous tongue for spilling that secret to a bunch of people who could spread the information to those who would happily use it against her.

Sunset Shimmer found herself in the middle of another collective hug from the group of girls. “It’s okay, Miss Sunset,” Sweet Lotus confided in her. “I never met my daddy, and my mama died when I was little. She was very sick. I didn’t know how to play either when I got here—Green Heart—one of my sisters here—had to teach me. We can teach you to play.”

A chorus of happy voices agreed, and Sunset found herself being put through a completely new experience: a childish birthday party, playing games and blowing on noisemakers, amidst a swirl of bright colors and balloons, before they gorged themselves to bursting on party food and a cake that would have made Princess Celestia drool, surrounded by laughter and acceptance of children who thought she was some sort of superhero. She found herself laughing freely until she couldn’t breathe, tears of mirth staining her cheeks. In a lot of ways, it was the most liberating experience she’d ever had, and it pushed back the despair that she had been feeling earlier in the day.

As she and Pinkie exited into the late afternoon, Pinkie nudged her. “I told you we were going to have great fun together! Wasn’t that great?”

“…Surprisingly…yes…but Pinkie…how did you…?” Words failed her—Sunset wasn’t even a hundred percent sure she knew what she was trying to ask. It didn’t matter, though, because Pinkie Pie had an answer.

A pink head tilted, and Pinkie Pie grew uncharacteristically serious for a moment. “That’s part of the best thing about having friends, Sunset,” she informed her. “…Everyone has days where everything seems dark, lonely, and hopeless..but when you’re at your saddest, your friends will be there. They’ll help you realize it’s not so bad and help you find a reason to smile again!" An arm went around Sunset’s shoulders, and for a moment, she would’ve sworn she felt magic again, making her check around her for a source. She found none, but as the very faint magic passed through her, she felt the warm flicker of hope reignite deep in her core.

...So, for starters, the "Sunset on the receiving end of bullying" plot elements are as close as this story will really see to the Anon-A-Miss plot. Frankly, I felt that comic was....just poor characterization all around. Everyone from the main characters to the CMC just felt like...distorted reflections of themselves. While I can see the school's students getting their licks in immediately after the formal and before the events of Rainbow Rocks, it never made sense for the girls to behave that way, and it made less sense to have the crusaders be behind it--while there was that "gabby gums" episode of the regular show, I feel like...these are girls/fillies who are bullied themselves. *stares hard at Diamond Tiara AKA "Bitch Pony."* They know how it feels to be picked on.

I also tried to be fairly realistic to the way teenagers bully in the modern era. Because of the crackdown in the past 3 decades on physical violence in schools, a lot of bullying has become the kind that doesn't leave much in the way of physical marks. You don't get swirlies or stuffed in a locker. You get social media garbage, nasty notes, ugly rumors, ostracism, and psychological torture. You get fish stories, where people add to it until, like some internet creepypasta, it takes on this life of its own.

And while I'm not here to soapbox, fact is, bullying sucks. Its never fun to be on the receiving end, and while some people are strong enough to fight back or to not let it get to them, not everyone is, and it can hurt others a great deal. Just food for thought.

...On to more amusing things.

Pinkie is hard for me to write, but I hope we did her justice here--this chapter was a real collaborative effort between me, my spouse (whose ADD has been useful for writing the pink one), and my beta-reader/editor. I try hard to really dig into the depths of each character to make them come to life, and Pinkie is no exception. She's not just the comedy character. There's real depth there, given that we see this is a character who has known depression and despair, who has a history and a story that isnt all sunshine and care bears, but who puts her best foot forward to bring joy to the world and to those she loves. I'm just hoping she comes off right to the readers. You guys'll have to let me know.

...Lastly, I will freely admit that growing up, Jem and the Holograms was my favorite Hasbro cartoon, right after the Original MLP. The Starlight house is, in fact, a nod to that, because like this story, the original Jem had plot elements that I cant believe got past censors in a cartoon aimed at little girls. (Still not sure how it is the Misfits never got friggin' arrested.) It also wont be the last place you see a Jem reference, because fuck me sideways, if the Dazzlings aren't a gods-be-damned Misfits reference, I'll eat my hat.