If your confused about the title then you'll need to read till the end if this chapter.

-Sunset Shimmer POV-

I sat with the rest of my friends and to my surprise, saw Soarin Skys sitting next to Rainbow Dash on the end. I had to tease them a bit, “Well, looks like you two are going swimmingly.”

“He doesn't leave my side.” Rainbow hissed at me.

Soarin just looked at her then said, “Is there something wrong with wanting to know my new Business Partner?”

“BUSINESS PARTNER!!!” we all shouted.

I looked at Rainbow who was blushing. “What do you mean by Business Partner!?”

Soarin smiled and nudged Rainbow, “Well, it's not official yet, but this beauty is gonna be a model. We'll be doing photo shoots together every once in awhile.”

Rainbow was blushing even harder as we all gaped at her, except Rarity who said, “It's about time!”

Now we were all staring at her, especially Rainbow. Rarity continued, “I have been trying to get her to model my designs for years but she always refused. How on earth did you get her to do it?”

“She was in the park where I was doing my photoshoot. I was doing it for a long time and was getting bored. Then the photographer asked Rainbow to join in. Father saw all the pictures she was in and decided to make her a model with me.”

“They also didn't give me a choice.” I could hear the glare in her voice and knew that she was not happy with this new job.

I saw Soarin smile smugly at Rarity before he continued. “You know, we still need to find Rainbow a designer to make the clothes that she'll be wearing. That person will need to know how to follow a pattern and have a good eye for fashion. We might let them throw in some of his or her own designs as well. Know anyone who'll be interested?”

We all pointed at Rarity and she eagerly raised her hand. A smug look of victory came on Soarin's face, “Well then Rarity, I'll see what I can do to get you the job.”

Rarity squealed and Soarin laughed. I smiled as I took a bite of the fruit salad. I think that this guy is gonna be fun to hang around with.

-Time Skip-

Nothing interesting happened for the rest of the day. We continued our unit in health and learned why they did this stuff to themselves. Evidently yesterday was just an overview.

According to the teacher, they don't start cutting themselves for quite awhile after they are being bullied. They don't do it till they begin to believe the things that they're being told. Once they do, they feel like they need to in order to do themselves justice. It's the only way they can find to cope with the pain. Tomorrow we’re learning about the different stages that they go through.

During the whole class, I snuck glances at Rainbow to find her just staring at the table and had the slightest hint of fear in her eyes. What was going on?

After class, Soarin caught up with me and pulled me aside. “Oh. Hey Soarin. What's up?”

He looked at me straight in the eye with a very serious expression on his face, “I need to talk to you. As soon as possible.  Somewhere private. Meet me at Sugarcube Corner at 5:30 tonight. It's important.”

I was really confused, but nodded in response and he walked away. What could he. Want to talk about anyway? I looked at my watch and saw it was 3:02. I should have enough time to get to my apartment and work on homework for a bit more than an hour till I'd need to leave to meet him. So that's what I did.

-Time Skip-

I looked at my watch again and saw that it was 5:28. I took a breath and walked into Sugarcube Corner and looked around then heard a “Pst.” and looked in that direction and saw a man in a hooded sweatshirt and dark sunglasses.

I walked up to him. “Soarin?” I asked in a voice that only he'd be able to hear. He nodded and I sat down. “What did you want to talk about? Something about your new career with Rainbow?”

“Not really. But it is about Dash.”

“What about her?”

He looked at me as if I was crazy. “Girl. So your telling me that you never noticed any of the signs?”

“Signs for what!?” I was starting to freak out. What was wrong with her?

He slapped his forehead. “Girl. I thought you could read minds. How oblivious can you be?”

“Skys, just tell me what's wrong with her.” I said his last name as to avoid him being mobbed.

“Girl. I get that your her best friend, which is why you should have noticed it by now.” he sighed. “Look. I'll list off a few things and you tell me if Rainbow has doing them or not. Sound good?”

“Ok.”

“She started to stop doing activities that she usually enjoys.”

“Well, ya now that I think about it. She stopped doing half of the sports that she was the captain of.”

“She is always wearing long sleeves and refuses to wear anything short.”

“Well, yes. But I thought she was just cold.”

“She never eats her food claiming that she's not hungry but never eats it at all.”

“Ya. But she said that she'd eat it later.”

“She seems to always rather be sad, stressed, or having no emotions whatsoever.”

“Well now that you mention it, she does. But why?”

“Do you still not know what's going on.”

"No, I don't.”

“Take all the things I told you and see if you can relate it to something that we're learning in one of our classes.”

I fell silent and thought about what he said then it hit me like a truck. “I-is she…” I didn't want to believe it. But is was the only possibly, “...Depressed?”

He looked really relieved as if a big weight has been lifted off his shoulders. “It's about time! You've known her for years while I've only known her for a day and I was able to figure it out even before I caught her cutting herself in the alleyway.”

I sat back on the chair in shock. This has been happening right under my nose and I didn't realize it. “You caught her in the act?” I questioned for the sake of hearing a human voice.

“Well, it was right afterwards but I could still see the blood and scars from previous times she's done it.”

“D… do you mind if I see that memory?”

“Go ahead.”

I put a hand over his and saw his memory.

-Flashback Start-

S

oarin was hugging Rainbow as she sobbed uncontrollably. Blood was all over the two staining their clothes.

-Flashback End-

I

let go not able to bear seeing anymore. “Did she tell you how long this was happening?”

“7th grade is when she said the bullying started.”

I felt the tears begin to silently roll down my cheeks as I thought about when I mistreated her and the rest of our friends. What if I'm part of the reason that she's like this? “H- how could I have not noticed? My best friend has been hurting herself for years and I did nothing to stop it. Nothing.”

Soarin moved chairs to be closer to me and put a hand on my shoulder. “Don't worry. It's not your fault. But I do need to ask some favors. For Rainbows sake.”

I nodded no longer able to speak through the lump in my throat.

“Rainbow has been starving herself and I need you to make sure that she eats everything she's given. The diet of a model may be smaller than an average human, but it’s a lot more than she's having currently. You can use the model thing as an excuse to make sure she does it.”

I nodded again then found my voice. “Anything for her.” then the tears started to fall faster, “How could I have failed her like this?”

“Sunset. Don't worry. We just need to focus on the here and now. We need to fix all those years of damage Trixie did to her. Convince her that all the lies that she's been told are just that. Lies. But I can't do it alone. Her parents don't know that she's depressed, but I did convince them to make sure that she eats. But I need you to do that while at school. I won't be able to be there all the time.”

I nodded again looking down at the table. Mrs. Cake came up to our table. “Hello dears. Is there anything I can do for you?”

I wanted to slap myself for not ordering something since this was a cafe. But Soarin had it covered, “Sorry. We had to talk and this was the best place to do it. But we can come over and oder now if you like.”

“Alright. Come over when you're ready.”

“Be there in a few.” she nodded and Soarin turned to me. “Look. Sorry for pounding all this information down at once. I'll get you a latte to get your mind off things. What kind do you like?”

“Cream.”

“Hey, my too!” I'll go get them.

I smiled a thank you and stared at my shaking hands. I knew that I'd need to tell Princess Twilight. But how will I tell her that my best friend was depressed, possibly suicidal, and I only noticed after someone who only knew her for around 24 hours pointed it out. Am I really that bad of a friend?

He came back and gave me the latte and I pulled out my wallet to pay him back but he stopped me. “Don't worry about it. I have more money than I know what to do with. This is nothing.”

I smiled at him and took a sip. He took a sip as well then looked in my eye. “Look. I know that you're a good friend to Rainbow. It's common to not usually realize when someone we know is depressed. The only reason I found out is cause…”

He stopped and saw tears in his eyes. “Because why?”

He sighed. “Because I was once in the same position as her.” I looked at him and a few tears began to run down his cheeks. “When my mother disappeared, my job as a model had just kicked off. I felt alone. I was always made fun off because of my appearance and how it's two shades of blue instead of two different colors. It was… hard. To say the least.

“Eventually I just gave up. I felt like I didn't even deserve to be alive. But then something happened. I don't know what it was, but it made me feel like I had reason to live. So I stopped. But even now I don't feel like I deserve everything I'm given.”

He looked me straight in the eye with absolute seriousness, “No one fully recovers from depression. The scars you make will always be there. Most of them are emotional…” he rolled up his sleeves and showed me very faint lines that I was surprised that I could still see. “... others are physical.”

I looked away from him and down at my latte. “Thank you for telling me these things. I'll try to repay you in the future.”

“Just keep her alive. That's all I'm asking.”

“I will.”

He patted my back and stood up. “I need to get back to the mansion. I'll need to help father with the paperwork and tell him about Rarity. See you around.”

I nodded and as soon as he left I took out the messenger book. It was magical so whatever I wrote appeared in a book in Princess Twilight's Library and if she wrote in that book, I'd be able to see what she wrote.

I knew that what I needed to tell her shouldn't be written, so I wrote…

“Dear, Princess Twilight,

I get that you’re probably really busy but I need to talk to you in person. Tell me when you can come over. It's an emergency.

Sunset Shimmer"

I put my book away, finished my latte and went home. I hoped that I could see her soon.

Wow. This is the longest chapter I've ever posted with over 2 thousand words. In all my books. Should I have turned it into two different ones? Well it's to late now. Always wear your seat belt.