Chapter Text
Sunset Shimmer heaved another brick into place, the mortar oozing from beneath. She had discarded her leather jacket an hour ago and laid it neatly out on the grass. Her very much deserved punishment was to work on rebuilding the wall she'd demolished on the night of the Fall Formal until the work crew could take over. Principal Celestia had informed her that they would be starting tomorrow and she would now be expected in detention every day until work was completed. Sunset had expected much worse, so this seemed more than fair to her.
After falling off her throne, Sunset knew what she had always feared would in fact come about. With no reason to care about her or respect her everyone would ignore her or hate her. She knew this was coming, knew what awaited her if she ever slipped up. And now she had nothing. No one. Their indifference would hurt more than bullying, more than anything really. But she knew she had earned it, and she had always known it was coming. Someday.
Sunset was yanked from her thoughts by the voice of her Principal, "I'm heading home for the day, so you may, as well. Would you like a ride?"
Celestia had offered everyday and everyday Sunset turned her down, "No, thanks, Principal Celestia."
"Alright, if you're sure," she said, a little hesitant. After another moment of watching Sunset gather her supplies, she turned and walked away.
Sunset let out a breath, before returning everything to the shed where it belonged. She tugged on her leather jacket and pulled her hair out of the back. After heaving her backpack over her shoulder, she set off in the direction of home.
Home was a rather loose description as the abandoned building didn't provide much more than a roof, and even that leaked quite a bit. Sunset kept her head down as she walked along the run down streets and eventually ducked behind a dilapidated warehouse. With practiced ease, she hopped through the long broken window, avoiding the few shards of glass still attached to the frame. The echo of her footsteps was the only sound in the shadowy space, and even the rats she knew lived there seemed silent. Coming to the corner she'd claimed as her own, Sunset plopped her backpack down at the end of her bed. Well, bed was also a loose term. Several layers of fabric, mostly worn packing blankets, made up her bed. She unlatched a worn leather briefcase that sat on the floor, tucked against the wall. It was empty, but Sunset took off her jacket, and, folding it neatly, placed it in the briefcase. Her jacket was followed by the rest of her school clothes and Sunset put on the ripped jeans and long flannel that had their home in a tote bag hanging on the wall. The nail that held her clothes bag wasn't the only one, and it's neighbor quickly became home to her backpack. Keeping her boots on was an essential, since the warehouse was a little hazardous for bare feet. Although it would have been easier to keep things in boxes, she'd had too much trouble with rat damage to let things remain within reach.
One of the few things that remained on the floor besides the briefcase for her school clothes was a thick candle. Fishing a box of matches out of the tote bag that contained most of her possessions, she lit the half-burned candle. It had been a long day, so instead of starting her schoolwork she lowered herself onto her bed and pulled off her boots. Then standing up, she placed her boots in the tote bag and settled down under the top blanket for bed.
Her back ached, especially her shoulder blades where her wings had been, like the echo of a bad memory. Her hands were blistered and in a couple places thick callouses had started to form. Sunset allowed her thoughts to wander and consider the coming day. Her detention would allow her the necessary time to catch up on assignments, but it would mean not getting home till dusk which definitely wasn't ideal. Where she lived was not the safest place, but it was what she had. She always lit the candle before bed as if to ward off the night, but now that sleep began to tug at her she rolled over and blew out the flame. Sunset finally drifted off to sleep and hoped she wouldn't dream.
Someone yelled and Sunset flinched. She huddled against the wall and tried to hide from the voices by letting her hair fall in front of her face. The red and yellow waves her only shield against the anger of the adults in the other room. They were angry at her, angry about her, and angry at each other. Their shadows fell on the floor in front of her and Sunset wished the darkness would cover everything. Hoped something, anything would silence the shouts. But nothing happened and the voices grew louder until she covered her ears and stopped breathing.
Sunset jerked awake with a gasp, sitting straight up. She hunched over her knees, clutching desperately at the cuffs of her flannel. Even with the fabric, her nails still dug painfully into her palms. The feeling brought her back to reality and she slowly calmed her breathing before rubbing her eyes and laying down again. All she wanted was to light the candle again, but she couldn't waste either the match or the light. Instead of sleeping she lay awake staring into the pitch black wishing she could ward it away.
After many hours, she watched as a dim light began to grow in the warehouse. The dawn had come and it was time to go. As much as she wished to stay far away from Canterlot High, she was still glad that the dawn had chased away the darkness. The tradeoff was almost worth it.