One Last Sunset - Ch.1 (Sunset Shimmer/2nd Person)

>It's more beautiful than you thought it'd be.

>The sun clings to the edge of the horizon and sinks lower with every minute that passes. Its magnificent light bounces off of the gentle waves of the ocean in front of you and paints the sand in a soft orange glow. The warmth feels good on your skin, like a comforting embrace from some angelic mother, a stark contrast from the intense barrage of the afternoon sun from earlier. You've watched it go down for hours now, gripping that little orange bottle in your hand so hard that it's left an imprint on your skin.

>The sun's light is soft now, soft enough that you can stare right at it without it hurting your eyes. The bright white of the glowing orb you sat down to is finally fizzling out to the red and yellow hues that bathe the sky with color. It really is beautiful. Not a cloud in the sky and not a sound to disturb you except the gentle brushing of the waves against the shore. You look down to your feet shifting in the sand and digging a little hole for themselves, wondering why you didn't do this more while you had the chance. Maybe things wouldn't have turned out like they did. It's a comforting final scene, at least.

>The sun inches further and fourth behind the horizon, threatening to leave you in the dark completely before too long. That's when you decided you'd finally get up—just as soon as the light left the world, you want to just leave with it. You shake the bottle in your hand to hear your cocktail of pills rattle around in it. Painkillers and sleeping pills; enough to put you out for days, if not kill you outright. They were all small enough to swallow without much trouble and this time you knew it was going to work. You close your eyes and fantasize about that final swim out into the ocean and finally losing consciousness for the last time like you've wanted for so many months now. Maybe your body might wash up on the shore, but at this point you're beyond caring about something like that.

>You open your palm and let the little bottle spin around in your hand. The sun is just barely peaking over the horizon now. You close your eyes and take in a long, deep breath. It won't be long until everything is over and it all can just finally end. You gaze back out at the sky as the colors dance away from the bright, beautiful rays of orange and yellow to a dull red and the soft indigo of the night sky creeping in. You take the cap off of the bottle and stare down at the mixture of colors. In any other situation your heart might be pounding in anticipation, but now you can hardly even bring yourself to care. The decision was already made a long time ago, you just need to go through with it now.  You enjoy the last few moments of the sun's warmth glowing across your skin and let out a sigh at the thought of the relief finally leaving things behind. You bury your feet even further into the soft sand and lean forward onto your knees, closing your eyes and waiting for that last bit of light to finally leave.

    "Hey," a female voice says from behind you. The noise makes you jump and you instinctively hide the bottle into your pocket. You perk up and look around to see where that familiar voice was coming from.

>It didn't take long; you knew that voice well. The one and only Sunset Shimmer is standing beside you. Her easy going smile is an odd sight considering the bully queen of Canterlot you've always known her as. You first reaction is to sneer at her presence, spit at her feet and tell her to get lost after everything she's done. Your lips start to move, but at this point you're beyond caring about anything anymore and just lean back over to rest on your forearm. It's not like anything she could do would matter anymore.

    "Hey," you say with a monotone mumble, dropping your eyes back to the horizon.

    "Do you mind if I sit next to you? You found a pretty good spot out here to watch the sunset," she says with an odd sweetness that grated against your idea of her. Her gentle smile at your presence feels wrong as you look over at her, but you have to admit it gave you a fuzzy feeling inside.

    "Wasn't really saving it for anyone. Go ahead," you say. You look away from her as she leans down and settles down on her knees, placing her hands on her thighs and sitting just a little bit taller than you. "Looks like you missed it anyway."

    She lets out a long sigh as she brushes some of those red and yellow locks off her shoulder and lets her hair drape over her like a silk sheet. "Maybe tomorrow then. It was a nice walk over here at least. It's nice to see a familiar face around here, too."

>You don't bother saying anything. The two of you are the farthest things from friends you could possibly think of and you have to wonder why she's even bothering to talk to you at all. It certainly won't change anything at this point, but you give her a suspicious glance anyway.

    She looks over to you with that same sweet smile. "So, how have you been? We never really get the chance to talk in class and I've been meaning to get to know you."

    "Seriously?" you say, a little bit of malice slipping out, shooting her a quick glare again. You can see her wince a little at the tone, but she had to expect it after everything that happened.

    Sunset clears her throat and settles back into the sand, her eyes tracing down to the ocean. "Look... I know I haven't made life particularly easy for you in the past, but that doesn't mean we can't still be friends now, right?" she says making her best attempt at a warm smile. It almost makes you uncomfortable. No one has really smiled at you or because of you in months and you aren't going to start believing this is genuine coming from /her/. You look her up and down with a harsh glare for a moment, trying to figure out what she's up to.

    "Might be too late for that," you say back to her, shifting your focus back out across the sea. She looks away from you for a moment, a little hurt that you didn't return her warmth. You shake your head, just hoping she'd leave already. You can already feel the pills pouring out of the bottle in your pocket and with the last bits of sun finally past the horizon you should've had this done already.

    Sunset does her best to put her warm smile back on. "It's never too late to make a new friend." You don't bother answering, leaving an awkward silence hanging in the air for a moment. "So what brings you out here? Not a lot of people come down this far for the beach."

    "Didn't really want to be bothered."

    Sunset looks at you for a moment like you just shoved her. "O-oh... do you want me to leave?"

    "I don't really care. Do what you want," you say, not entirely sure why you didn't just tell her to go away. The sun has disappeared almost entirely behind the horizon at this point, only offering a few weak rays to light up the sky with the last hints of the day. Sunset's presence isn't something you want on the surface, but you couldn't bring yourself to tell get lost for some reason.

    "Okay. Good," she says, the smile returning to her face. "You looked like you could use the company."

    You let silence permeate the space between you again for a moment. A long sigh escapes your lips and you look down to the sand in front of you. "Why are you out here, Sunset?" you say in a somewhat defeated tone. The day has already passed and that only gave you excuses to wait even longer. Frustration grows in a slow boil in your torso as the timing of your plan fell apart.

    "What, can't a girl enjoy her winter vacation somewhere warm?" she says with a playful grin.

    "No, I mean, why are you out here alone? With me? Don't you have a bunch of new friends now?"

    "Oh..." Sunset says, her eyes drifting down to the sand as well. "I guess I just wanted to come out here on my own to think about things. I knew the girls would understand." She lets out a little laugh. "Besides, they didn't exactly have the money to come down here like I did."

    You look over at her with a raised eyebrow. You could've sworn she worked at that sushi place in the mall. "How do you--"

    "It's a long story, but currency from my old home helps through times like this," she says nonchalantly. "It gets me through some of my expenses."

    "Right, magical unicorn from another universe..." you let out another sigh. She obviously wants someone to talk to, so you decide to finally give up the cold shoulder and reluctantly oblige her, for tonight at least; maybe it'll make her go away faster. "So, what did you come to think about?"

    She leaves the question hanging for a moment, her eyes glued out on the ocean "I... do you like to dance?" she says, her expression turning hopeful as she looked over at you.

    "Uh, I don't really—"

    Sunset gets up off the sand, brushing the grains clinging to her sarong and legs. "There's a place down the beach that has a reggae band playing tonight and I know they don't check for ID's" she says with a sly smile, extending her hand out to you.

>You open your mouth to tell her no, but the word catches in your throat. All you've been doing since you got here is sitting in the little beach house alternating between watching TV, looking out at the beach, and being stuck with the thought of how much you wished you could just end it already. If you said no now all it would be is another dull night of that.

>You look up at her for a moment with a raised eyebrow. She had to be up to something; she was never this nice to you. You look back out to the water and think about how dull your life had been for the last few months as you worked towards this attempt. One night of something interesting wouldn't hurt before the end. Not like whatever Sunset was planning was going to matter soon anyway.

"You know what? Sure." You grab her hand and let her tug on you. You're a lot bigger than her though, so her first tug is unsuccessful. The second tug involved her swinging her entire weight up and both hands to get you off the ground, but had the unfortunate side effect of making her slip backward and fall into the sand.

    "Whoops, haha," she says with a sheepish smile, with a hint of frustration cast down at her now sand-covered legs.

    You do your best to return her smile—those muscles felt odd and uncomfortable as they flexed in your cheeks. It has definitely been a long time since you've even bothered to grin. Your hand returns the favor and pulls her back up to her feet with one quick tug. "I don't think you're supposed to fall doing that," you say.

    Her face turns a little red. "Well I had to figure something out," she says as she wipes her legs off again.

    "So you meant to do that?"

    She shoots another grin and a wink at you "Oh yeah, I love getting all sandy. Now lets forget this ever happened and go get something to drink."

>The air between you is somewhat tense and awkward as you both make your way down the beach. Your face sinks back to its default hopeless stare. You almost want to laugh at Sunset's uncomfortable glances. She's definitely used to being around more talkative people and doesn't seem to know what to do with you as you walk silently beside her.

    Sunset clears her throat and looks back over to you. "So, you have a drink of choice?"

    You look out to the ocean. "Not really. I'm only eighteen, remember?"

    "Right... well, haven't you tried anything at parties or something?" She asks, leaning over to try to catch your gaze.

    "Nobody would ever invite me after what you did," you say in your same monotone. Sunset winced and stood back up straight, unable to look at you for a moment. You don't bother to share any emotion—it all stopped mattering a while ago.

    "Right... well, for what it's worth, I'm really sorry about all that."

>You don't bother to look over at her and just give her a lazy shrug. The air between you becomes even more awkward as Sunset fidgets in place and opens her mouth a few times to try to say something, only for it to close again as the thought gets lost in her throat.

    "Hey, look at that. We're here," Sunset says, some relief showing through in her voice.

>The little hut with its own bar and stage only held a half dozen or so tables underneath its palm frond roof. There weren't any roads leading to it, so only people making their way down the shoreline around some of the surrounding houses would've found it. As you both made your way in, the only other people around were five older people, probably vacationing somewhere warm in their retirment. Didn't seem like a particularly lively night, but that's not what you really wanted anyway.

    "Two mai tais, please," Sunset says as she grabs a stool next to the thatch bar. A gentle flow of slow, gentle music plays out of the instruments behind you. The band looks like they've been doing this for 40 years, but the bright smiles and rhythmic swaying of their bodies made it seem like they were enjoying themselves. The relaxed music is a nice change from the silence of your room or the constant rush of the ocean.

>You settle onto the old wooden bar stool beside Sunset and watch the elderly bartender mix the drinks with practiced ease.

    She reaches into the top of her swimsuit for a moment, but you  put a hand up to stop her. "No need to expose yourself," you say, pulling some money out of your swimsuit and putting it on the bar.

    Sunset slides the few dollars back over to you. "That's sweet, but you don't need to do that. I am the one that brought us here after all."

    "Just let me pay for it, Sunset. It's not a big deal." you slide the cash over back over to her. The jumble of money was going to be useless to you before too long, so might as well do something with it that might make someone else's world a little better.

    Sunset opens her mouth to protest, but catches your unamused expression and decides not to. "Alright. Thank you..."

>You take in a deep breath and look out to the stars as they begin to peak through the darkness. Your mind starts to wonder again, wondering what exactly Sunset is up to bringing you out here. You can't imagine what she's trying to use you for this time. You momentarily play with the idea that she actually did just feel bad, but you knew her better than that. You look back over to your teal-eyed tormentor as she twiddles her thumbs awkwardly. Anger slowly seeps through your apathy at all the horrible memories she caused you.

>As pretty as she is, you know she's the nastiest, most cruel person you've ever known. Six months ago being this close to her would stir up a seething hatred inside you, but now you can only let out a soft sigh as you look over her. You've been so numb to reality for so long you can hardly even feel anything anymore.

    "What?" Sunset asks with a raised eyebrow. You look up to her eyes, only just now realizing you were staring at her.

    "So where's this going to go?" you ask right back.

    "Like, physically? Or..."

    "What's your plan this time, Sunset? I'm not stupid. You're not one to take losers out for a drink without a purpose."

    The bartender places the drinks down in front of you, but as you two lock eyes they go ignored. "Is it so hard to believe I don't have one? Well, I do, but it's just to try to be friends."

    You let out another sigh and grip the freezing cold glass in front of you. "With me. Out here completely alone. Look, there's no way you could've known I was here by chance, Sunset. I know you've got something in the wings. It'll probably go smoother if you just tell me what it is."

    "It's... it's not like that anymore," Sunset says, looking down and stirring the straw in her own drink. "Look, you have every right to distrust me, and honestly I don't blame you, but please, just give me a chance to prove that I'm not trying anything behind your back now. Can we try that?"

    You look away from her for a moment and shake your head, then trace your eyes back to give her a soft nod. "Sure, why not," you say, knowing it'll probably end up badly anyway. What did it really matter now? You lean down and take a sip out of the straw, your face twisting at the odd combination of citrus sweetness and the sour bite of alcohol behind it.

    Sunset lets off a little giggle at your reaction. "Have you ever had one before?" she says before taking a sip of her own.

    "Uh..." you cough a few times, trying to get used to the feeling as it goes down your throat. "I can't say I have." You look back down to the orange slurry in front of you—it doesn't look like it'd have that kind of bite, but as it settles into your stomach it spreads around a strange kind of warmth through the rest of your torso. You lean back down and take another sip, doing your best not to grimace this time.

    Sunset giggles at your attempts again. "Oh come on, it's not that bad."

    "It's definitely something new..." you say, taking another sip, a little more prepared this time. Once the shock of the alcohol on your tongue subsides the sweet flavor is kind of nice.

    "Well, you'll be having a lot more fun after two or three more," Sunset says with a big sip of her own.

    "You trying to get me drunk?" you ask with a raised eyebrow. The tension between the two of you is slowly melting away with each sip, and you can feel your own numbness start to fade as well.

    "Well, that's up to you if you're buying. I should probably be asking you that question instead," Sunset says as she takes another sip of her own.

>The melodies coming out of the band start feeling different and you can feel your foot start to sway with the beat. Somehow with every drink you can feel the tension of the last few months fading and emotion flowing in from the music. You close your eyes with your mouth settled on the straw, just watching as the strange warmth spreads out through your body and clouds your mind away from the constant barrage of awful thoughts.

    "/Are/ you trying to get drunk?" Sunset asks, snapping you out of the momentary reverie. You look over and blink in confusion at her for a moment before you look back and realize just how much you'd taken in: the fancy glass is already almost halfway empty.

    "Oh, well... not really, I don't think. I guess I was starting to like it."

    Sunset gives you a warm smile. "Good. Maybe after the next one I can get you to dance," she says, leaning over and giving you a gentle nudge with her elbow.

    You give her a weak smile. "Don't push your luck." You look back to take in the little beach hut, glancing around the tables as the tiki torches provide the only light in the growing night. "So, why here exactly? Doesn't really seem like your kind of place."

    Sunset raises an eyebrow at you as she leans back onto the counter with her elbows. "Because it was quiet and I wanted to hear the band... maybe dance a little bit. What's 'my kind of place' to you?" she asks with an amused grin.

    You give her a shrug and let your eyes wander away from hers. "I dunno, a dark, dirty, evil lair where you mastermind your next scheme."

    "If I had a mustache to twiddle that'd be perfect," she says with a roll of her eyes. "I mean, what's wrong with here? I thought I fit in pretty well."

    You poke your straw around in the rest of your drink. "I don't know... I always figured a popular girl like you would stick around the big parties and clubs, getting drunk all the time with all your friends."

    "I'm still in high school too, you know," she says with a sly smirk. "My favorite parties still involve Pinkie Pie, pinatas, and cupcakes. Don't think I'll ever be into going to clubs."

    "Me neither. I don't really know what girls like you do in their off time."

    Sunset's smile turns warm and you meet her eyes for a moment. "Well, I'm not entirely sure what boys like you do in their off time, so now's a good time change that and get to know each other, don't you think?"

>Reality slowly creeps back in as you try to take another drink. That familiar emptiness pushes back against the warmth growing inside you to mash down the hope that there'd actually be any future for what she just said. By tomorrow none of this would matter, as much as you want to smile at the thought of having a real friend in her. You look away from Sunset and out towards the growing moonlight illuminating the beech. You had to remind yourself you were out here in the first place because of her, you want to die because of her, and now you'll have to spend another miserable night in that dumb little beach house because of her.

    You jerk a little bit at the feeling of Sunset's fingers on your arm. "Hey, is everything okay?" she says, her face conveying genuine concern.

    You pull your arm away and give her a quick sneer. Of course everything isn't alright—her of all people should know that. "I'm fine," you let out in a terse, frustrated tone.

>The air quickly grows tense between you. Sunset lets her hand hang in the air for a moment as her smile fades from the harsh tone. You're sure she knows better than to actually believe you, but she doesn't say anything. The moment is cut short by the band ending their song and a normal voice calling out to the crowd. They say something about the massive crowd and thunderous applause, enticing a laugh out of the elderly couples populating the seats. Once they announce the next song nam a gentle, calming tune flows out of their instruments, letting a different kind of feeling settle onto the little hut. It's almost like a love song with its sweet, low melody. You take another deep breath, trying to let the harsh feelings fade. It's only one more night.

    You glance back over at Sunset to see she's somehow downed the entire drink in her hands. A soft redness is forming on her cheeks as she turns to step off of her stool before you can say anything. Sunset holds out an eager hand once she sees you looking at her. "Dance with me?" she asks, a hopeful smile on her face.

>Your brain is hardly in control anymore as you reach your hand out to meet hers. In any other situation that question would get an instant 'no' but with your own warmth spreading what must be an awkward blush on your cheeks, you stand up and let her pull you out in between the tables.

    "I... I don't know how to dance," you say, trying to talk past the weird feelings suddenly building up inside you.

    Sunset takes both of your hands in hers as you come to a stop between everyone. "It's okay, I don't really know how either. I've seen some slow dancing in movies though—can't be too hard. Just put your hands here..." Her hands guide yours to the top of her bare hips. A nervous lump forms in your throat as your palms come to rest against her silky skin. Sunset makes things even worse by resting her soft hands against your shoulders and letting herself settle up against you, her bare stomach lovingly caressing yours as you both start to sway.

    "See, not that hard, right?"

    "N-no..." the warmth on your cheeks grows hotter and you know it's not from the alcohol anymore. You try to look down into her eyes with each sway, but the growing butterflies in your stomach urge you to look away.

    Sunset lets off a giggle about the third time it happens. "I'm not gonna bite you, you know."

    You clear your throat, still looking away. "I know... I'm just not really used to this kind of thing."

    "Me neither. I came here to get some time to think, but some new experiences would beat being bored out here by myself, don't you think?"

    You have to clear your throat again. "S-sure..."

>You can feel your own hands threatening to tremble on her soft sides. Every time her stomach brushed up against you, a new rush of butterflies flooded your system, threatening to send your entire body into a stiff nervousness. You somehow held strong and managed to sway to the beat with her, but you still couldn't look down into her eyes for long. The feeling of her hair falling over her shoulder and brushing up against your skin, the smell of her fruity shampoo radiating up to you, and your bodies being so close together... it's almost more intoxicating than the alcohol.