A Ray of Sunlight

One Last Confrontation

In the weeks following the meeting with Ditsy Doo, Sunset felt much lighter. She walked around with a smile more often at school and felt more inclined to talk with other classmates. She had even felt comfortable enough to help a few people who had dropped papers or books in the hallways. They were wary when she had first approached them, but by the time they parted ways they were put at ease by her demeanor. She was doing much better at not letting the comments or the few stray notes she still received get to her. It seemed as though the activity of harassing her was starting to die off.
     The others were enjoying their friend's improved attitude as well. They joked around with each other before classes, and talked easily without the looming grey cloud that had hung over Sunset.
     The seven of them were walking toward the entrance after the final bell. Twilight was talking to Fluttershy about ways to teach Spike some new tricks while Sunset was listening to Rainbow Dash tell a story about what happened at the last practice.
     "Then, Windchill kicked the ball into the goal, but it hit the post and came back toward her! She barely dodged in time." She laughed.
     Sunset laughed along with her. "I'm glad she's okay, but that is pretty funny."
     "Yeah, I wish someone had been recording it! It was a pretty epic dodge!"
     Sunset smiled at her sporty friend before addressing the rest of the group. "Is everyone still up for going hiking this weekend?"
     They all answered in the affirmative.
     "I bought new hiking boots just for the occasion!" Rarity squealed. "They're so comfortable, but more importantly they're cute!"
     "I've seen them and can confirm that they are indeed cute." Fluttershy added with a smile.
     Rainbow rolled her eyes. "As long as you don't call it quits a quarter of the way up. The snow has finally melted away and it's warm enough that we can do this hike. I haven't hiked the waterfall canyon trail in forever and I wanna make it to the end."
     "I actually haven't done any of the Mount Sombra trails." Twilight admitted sheepishly. "Is this one difficult?"
     "A bit at first. It starts out kind of steep, but levels out and becomes more gradual as you go higher." Sunset placed a comforting arm around Twilight. "And don't worry, if we have to take some breaks along the way we can."
     They finished ironing out the details before parting ways. Twilight blew a kiss in Sunset's direction before climbing on her bus. Sunset caught the kiss and winked in return before walking to the parking lot. When she saw who was waiting on her car, her stomach dropped.
     Adagio was sitting on the hood of Sunset's SUV with a self-satisfied smile on her face. Aria was leaning against the passenger door smoking a cigarette. She thought she had seen the last of them since there had been no attempts at contact since she'd run into them in the halls several weeks back.
     "Get off my car." Sunset said flatly.
     "Someone's in a mood." Adagio said as she hopped down. The old hood popped back into place behind her.
     "I'd say it's understandable since you two aren't exactly in my top one hundred people I want to see." She tossed her bag into her car and turned to face the duo. "I seem to recall telling you I was done."
     "You might be, but I'm not." Adagio smirked.
     "What do you want Adagio?"
     "Oh, I've just noticed your popularity around the school seems to be dwindling and I think I can give it another kickstart."
     "Is that a threat?" Sunset said through rising anger.
     "Maybe it is. Maybe it's just a reminder that you can say you're done all you want, but we have too much history for it to be true. And you'll never know when I'll feel like reminding you of that fact." She patted Sunset's cheek. "Come on Aria, let's go get something to eat."
     Aria pushed herself off the passenger door and flicked the spent butt at the headlight. Sunset crushed it with the heel of her shoe before climbing into her car. She took several deep breaths and gripped the steering wheel. She knew Adagio was right. They did have too much history, too many acts of cruelty together. Who knew how many other videos they had recorded while bullying a classmate.
     She sat upright. She knew a way she might be able to stop Adagio, though she would need some help to pull it off. Sunset started the car and headed home, ironing out her plan the whole time.