Thursday, December 11. 3:27 P.M.
Sunset was walking down the hall, barely holding back the tears. It has been about 4 weeks since Anon-a-miss appeared. She still couldn't believe that her friends stopped talking to her. Abandoned her to fend for herself in a school that was so broken. Though there was one thing that the school collectively agreed on, Sunset was to blame and that she would receive their anger. It was beginning to tear her down, all the shoving, the name-calling, the glaring, and the notes. It was why she was here so late. She wasn't confident that she would be safe if she left school immediately. Anyone planning to jump her would certainly leave after waiting nearly an hour in the snow.

She left the school and made her way to Canterlot City Park. She walked along the snowy sidewalk as puffs of breath floated upwards. Sunset stuck to the less-traveled paths in hopes of avoiding everyone that knew her. As she arrived at Canterlot City Park in the park, she sat on a bench with her cyan long sleeve shirt and her leather jacket that did very little to warm her. She quickly glanced around her, showing that she was relatively hidden from people waking the paths due to the snowbanks. She looked down at her arms as she rolled up her sleeves. She flexed her hands, letting the biting cold envelope her arms and hands. As she waited, she began to think about her friends and the things they said to her.

"Why are you doing this? We're friends," Sunset pleaded as she was pushed away from her friends.

"Because you betrayed us!" How could you do this to us after everything that we've been through? I thought we were friends!!!!" Pinkie Pie shouted as angry tears and hurt washed over her face.

"But we are friends!" Sunset tried again.

"We're not friends. Friends don't betray each other like you did. I trusted you, and you hurt me! You were probably laughing about it too!" cried Fluttershy as she placed her face into Rainbow's shoulder.

"Why am I not surprised that you're still the same bitchy Queen Bee of the school!" Rainbow Dash shouted, glaring at Sunset, while she held a sobbing Fluttershy.

"It is quite obvious it was you, Sunset Shimmer. I don't want you anywhere near me, my friends, or my family!!" Rarity proclaimed loudly, drawing attention to her in the hallway.

"Go on now, get away from us and stay away!" yelled Applejack as she stood in front of the group, arms crossed.

Sunset took a couple of steps backward before she turned around and fled to the nearest bathroom while she felt the malicious stares from the students in the halls. As she looked around, the glares and became sadistic grins as it became one girl against the whole school.

Slow tears flowed down Sunset's cheeks as she started to quietly cry on the bench. The pain was overwhelming that Sunset sought relief from it. She blindly reached into her jacket pocket and took out her red and blue Swiss army knife. She took in a shuttering breath, and her hands shook from the nervousness of doing this in the open or excitement about the pain finally being released she didn't know. She closed her eyes as she made the first cut and slowly watched in morbid fascination as blood began to leak from the wounds. She then began cutting her arms, and after about ten minutes, she put her knife away and wait for the injuries to stop flowing so heavily. Once the cuts were sufficiently closed, she carefully pulled the sleeve of her shirt over the wounds, and her jacket sleeve soon followed.

With her shirt covering the cuts, she began to once again cry in silence. A light snowfall began, and Sunset looked up, watching the snowflakes flitter down, and wondered what it must be like to be so carefree despite their usually swift end. Slow rolling tears made their way down her face as she watched the snowfall. The snow began to wet her face and hair, yet Sunset could find it in her to care enough to wipe the melted snow off. All she did was watch the snow and her breath mix together in a swirling motion as if the two were dancers performing a concert with only her as their audience. While she watched the slow dance, uncaring about how her tears mixed with the melted snow, she suddenly felt a hand on her shoulder. Startled, she jumped off the bench and spun around looking for her attack, only for her to see Principal Celestia holding her hands up to show she meant no harm. With Principal Celestia was Vice-Principal Luna behind her, rubbing her arms to keep herself warm.

"What are you doing here, Principal Celestia ??" Sunset asked defensively and silently grimacing at how aggressive it sounded.

"We were walking in the park and saw you while we were walking around to destress. We noticed you looked rather upset and thought we could provide you guidance and comfort if you needed it," Celestia said carefully. She didn't want to make Sunset angry. While Sunset was a lot more mellow than she was at the start of the year, Sunset still had quite the temper when it was poked. She was concerned that the usually independent girl would take offense to that and get angry with her.

"It's nothing," She mumbled.

Luna being cold,but wasn't ebelieving that, "Now Miss Shimmer, neither me nor my sister were born yesterday. We can obviously tell something is wrong."

"Fine! What want to know what wrong?!?" Sunset roared as angry tears worked themselves free. "My former friends left me all because of that stupid blog. The whole school thinks I'm Anon-a-miss and making my life a living hell because of it. To top it off, I'm such a mess right now that I don't even know what the right thing is anymore. That's why I'm out here. I'm sick of no one believing me so, and that's why I'm out here. I just want to disappear like so many people seem to want me to nowadays," Sunset screamed as she cried and shouted at the two shocked women. They weren't expecting her to have a meltdown. Celestia and Luna thought it was the typical teenage drama about the girl's crush rejecting her.

"Well, Celestia nor I believe that you are Anon-a-miss. It was quite evident that you changed for the better after the Fall Formal, and let's not forget The Battle of the Bands, where you saved the entire school from certain destruction. Had this occurred before the Formal Fall, you would be the main suspect," Luna commented as she strode forward, placing a hand on her leather jacket to warm her.

"You believe me? For reals? This isn't some sick prank or dream?" Sunset asked in a small hopeful voice.

"No, this is not a dream."

"Thank you for believing in me," Sunset smiled, though still sad and slightly broken. Sunset didn't look nearly as broken as she had moments earlier.

"You don't have to thank us," Luna smiled as she hugged her. after sunset calmed down Luna spoke

"Sister can we talk?" asked Luna

Celestia and Luna moved away from earshot of Sunset.

"Sister, you have to know where she lives so that you can speak with her parents about the things she revealed to us. She is a minor and needs someone to take care of her, and with how often she tells us her parents are out of town, I worry for her safety. You must make sure someone is there for her," said Luna.

"I'll see that it is done, Luna," Celestia smiled.

Celestia and Luna approached Sunset

"I'll be going now. It's far too cold for me. You have a good rest of your day, Sunset. See you tomorrow at school," Luna said as she waved goodbye.

"Bye, Vice-Principal Luna," Sunset said as she waved to Luna. She thought that was going to be it, but Celestia had yet to move.

"Sunset, why don't I take you home?" Celestia asked gently.

"No, I'm fine, you don't need to worry, Principal Celestia. I can take the bus," Sunset replied timidly.

Nonsense, Sunset, it's already dark and I'm worried about leaving you alone. I need to talk to your parents so get in my car and you can show me where you live, "Celestia said as she pointed Sunset to her car.

Sunset was unsure whether to show Celestia where she lived. She didn't have the closest relationship with the woman. While she knew that Celestia wasn't Princess Celestia, they were close enough that Sunset always felt uncomfortable around the woman. However, the woman wasn't taking no for an answer, much like her counterpart. Thus Sunset begrudgingly gave her directions to her apartment and only gave the directions to her house. Sunset avoided the small conversation Celestia attempted to have until they reached her old apartment.

"Do you live here?" Celestia asked as she looked over the rundown building, puzzled.

"Yes," Sunset nodded.

"Seems kinda small for you and your parents," Celestia commented.

"I live on my own. I don't have parents," whispered Sunset.

"Not even in your world?" asked Celestia.

"In my world, my parents died when our house caught fire," Sunset said in a quiet whisper. "Can we stop talking about this, please?"

"Of course. Well, I can't in good conscience leave you here alone. So you can either come with me, and I'll make us a good dinner, or we can stay here and have take out."

"I suppose a home-cooked meal wouldn't be too bad," Sunset said shyly.

"Wonderful! Now, do you have anything important that we need to take with us?" asked Celestia.

"Yeah, I have my pet, Ray. He is a lizard,I hope that's not a problem, my electric guitar, my notebooks, among other things," Sunset smiled.

"Well, I'll help you pack the important stuff, and you needn't worry about Ray. I absolutely adore lizards," Celestia smiled.

As they entered the apartment, Celestia noticed the lack of clothes for the girl. With Sunset only having one set of clothes that were very old and worn. Her lack of undergarments also caused Celestia to worry about Sunset and how healthy she actually was. On top of her dresser was a photo of her with her friends. The photo would normally cause Celestia to smile, but the tell-tale signs of the tear stains and teardrops caused pain to grow in her heart. She quickly gathered whatever scrape of cloth she could get her hands on and packed them in a spare bag. She looked over and saw a book with a sun on the cover. believed it was important Celestia stuffed that along with her clothes and made her way out to her car.

Celestia helped Sunset put the of her things in the car and fell in love with Ray the moment she saw him and his little house. He was very small, and as she was helping Sunset put him in the car, she noticed that her shirt and pants were covered in blood. Celestia held her tongue until they were both in the car before she addressed Sunset.

"Sunset take off your shirt," Celestia said sternly as the girl sat in the passenger seat.

Sunset was startled by the tone. It sounded so much like Princess Celestia when she ordered her guards to escort her out of the castle. The tone awoke something primal in her, and she could help but shake in fear. She immediately obeyed as she ripped her jacket off like it was on fire. She paused for a moment when she reached her shirt. However, she removed the article of clothing all the same. Despite her hands shaking like leaves in the wind, she removed the shirt entirely and was now completely naked except for her bra. She closed her eyes and heard Celestia gasp. Celestia starred on in horror at the wounds that dotted her student's body. Sunset had tears fall from her eyes as her mind flushed with shame and guilt.

I'm such a screwup.