Warning- Thoughts of suicide will come up in this chapter (for like, five seconds...) and I wasn't sure if it would trigger anyone...so...yeah...

Lem sighed as she finished fixing her hair. She looked at Sunset curiously. "Why do you never talk about your family?"

Sunset snapped her head up. A look of fear or confusion clouded her eyes. "Why do you never talk about your family?" she countered quickly. Then she breathed out slowly. "My mother died, I was never close to my dad, and my s-" she broke off. "It's nothing. It that it?"

"Oh." Lem looked around nervously. "Yeah."

"Thank you."

Lem picked her jacket up off the couch. Sunset was holding her brush. "I'm going out," they both said in unison. "Okay..."

They stared at each othernfor a minute; a minute of awkward silence. Sunset finally spoke up. "Well then I guess I'll see you later. Be careful." Lem nodded.

"You too."

With that, Lem quickly left the apartment. Once she closed the door, she stared at her newest text.

Think you can find me? Well then come and try, sweetie. -A

A million thoughts were spinning in her head: What if I die? What would they do? Should I really be doing this? What if I never come back? Am I being stupid?

She pushed them all away, and started walking to her safe place: an abandoned underground mine.

-

Sunset wore a short, black silk skirt, a white shirt with short black sleeves, and knee high white boots. Her black mascara made her deep emerald green eyes stand out.

After getting dressed, it only took her a few minutes to get to the address Lilac had given her. It was a karaoke and bar in one.

Lilac was holding a table. A smile hopped to her lips. "You look like a sailor." When Sunset gave her a questioning look, she spoke again. "No offense. I do love it. But you seriously look like a sailor." She tapped the seat. "Sit."

Sunset slid into the booth. "How are you?"

"I'm great, beautiful Sunset."

They sat and talked for a while, before Sunset suddenly felt the urge to tell Lilac everything.

She stared down at her legs. "I killed her." The words she had once said with venom, now just deepened her sorrow.

Lilac gave her a weird look. "Who?"

"Henna...my old girlfriend," she peeped out.

"Why?"

"She-" Where do I start? "She tried to kill my other friends, and there was a knife in my hands. I was so mad. And scared for their lives. I wasn't thinking, and the next thing I felt was the knife tearing through her." By then she was hugging herself, and fighting back tears. "I took the life of someone I had once loved."

Lilac's face was completely blank, emotionless. "Of she was about to kill your other friends, you were just saving them. That's very admirable."

"Murder?" Sunset let out a dry laugh. "I'd hardly call that admirable."

"That's not exactly what I meant," she heaved a sigh. "I meant the fact that you sacrificed someone you cared for. It can be hard to do sometimes."

Sunset pushed her hair out of her face. "Thank you. Even though I don't really believe it." She sipped the Grape Fanta she had ordered. A foul taste hit the back of her throat. She flinched. Who put Vodka in my drink? "Okay, disgusting." And why?

-

Lem stared around at the shaft. So many memories. Hermold diaries, stuffed animals, posters, and pictures of her family were everywhere. Fear quickly shot through her when her eyes rested on one picture. Him...

Her gaze shot down to the scars on her wrists and arms. I thought I kept these covered. No one can ever know what happened.

She was launched into the most painful memory of her life.

Lem ran through the forest. Tears, rain water, and blood were plastered to her skin and clothes.

A knife was firmly in her hand. She brought it to her wrist for the millionth time. By now, it didn't hurt anymore; she was completly blind to pain.

"Lemon Zest!" an angry voice called out. "Get back here, you idiot!"

She took off running to Sunny's house.

Her friend's mother opened the door. She saw Lem, and pulled her inside. "Are you okay?"

"No," Lem whimpered as her legs started shaking. Her vision clouded, and she fell to the floor. "He's going to kill me..."  That was the last thing she said before she blacked out.

Lem stumbled. Her side rammed into the edge of a table she had put in the shafts, and the air was knocked out of her. An old wound had opened again.

Blood dripped to her leg, then slowly rolled to the floor.

Scars.

It had been two years since she had last cut herself, or tried to drug herself.

She thought back to the time when she was happy. It felt life a lifetime had passed since then, she was learning to smile again, and was breaking out of her shell.

But still, opening up to her friends was hard.

They don't know she had self harmed, purposefully took a whole bottle of Tylenol, or the reason she was at Sunny's house, almost dead, at three in the morning.

Lem sighed. "Just please don't tell them."

Sunny stared at her friend. "I won't, but only of you tell me why you were there. You were covered in blood."

"It was..." she wracked her brain for a lie. "I was hunting. I shot something, and got covered in its blood. Sorry of I scared you."

"Okay?" Sunny didn't look like she believed Lem at all, but she let it go. (No pun intended...) "The girls will never know."

Wind howled through the shaft.

Lem had a lost, depressed, and sickened look on her face. Her eyes slowly drifted to a knife she had left stabbed into the wall, and, without thinking, she grabbed it. The blade glinted as the light was reflected.

She brought the knife to her arm, and paused.

Am I really doing this again? The thing I worked so hard to stop doing? Is this what I want?

Lem nodded defiantly.

She struck the blade across her wrist...

-

Music flooded the hall as Sunset walked back from the bathroom. She smiled when she saw the person on stage. Lilac.
Lilac's eyes rested on her. Her hand gripped the microphone tightly.

"Deep in her eyes
I think I see the future
I realize this is my last chance
She took my arm
I don't know how it happened
We took the floor and she said..."

By then, Lilac had pulled Sunset up onto the stage with her.
Sunset brought a microphone to her lips, and they started singing together. Their alto voices blended perfectly.

"Oh don't you dare look back
Just keep your eyes on my
I said you're holding back
She said shut up and dance with me
This woman is my destiny
She said oh oh oh
Shut up and dance-"

After finishing the song, the two lovers walked back to their table.

Lilac smiled. "I love you, Sunset. And I really want to kiss you right now."

Sunset looked away in embarrassment. "Why? I'm not great. I'm just an average person." With way too many mistakes. "But I really love you, too."

"Aww. How cute!"

Neither of them looked up at the waitress, until-

"Hey, Sunset, how did you like the Vodka I gave you?"

Sunset glared at her. "You put that in there? Why would you do that, you idi-? Dawn Shadow?" Her eyes flickered with fear. "You."

Dawn smirked. "You."

Lilac stared at both girls, who clearly had some kind of history together. She lightly tapped the shoulder of a stressed looking Sunset. "So, um, you know her?"

"Why shouldn't she?" Dawn said. "It would be pretty stupid if she didn't know her own si-" She was cut off when Sunset's hand flew over her mouth.

"Shimmer?" Lilac asked, her voice sharp.

"Fine," she sighed in defeat. "Lemon Zest, meet Dawn Shadow. My..." she bit her lip. "Sister."

-

Sugarcoat popped her gum. "She's probably at the mines. That's where she always goes to cool off."

"Do you think I don't know that?" Aria hissed. "I'm good friends with her now. You act like her owner! You're not the only one she talks to, you blunt bitch."

"Stop fighting, and go find her before A does." Sunny said. "I'm meeting Rarity, we have some stuff to take care of."

They didn't need to be told again.

-

Emerald sighed. She didn't even looked at River. Pain filled her eyes. "Are you sure?"

River nodded. "Yes, I am."

"Well."

"She was immortal. That couldn't kill her."

Emerald closed her eyes. This is going to be the death of me. And probably the rest of my friends. When will it end? Another sigh was torn out of her. "When are we going to tell them? They need to know." And I am done lying to them. I care too much.

"I don't know. When you spend so much time lying to someone, it seems to hard to tell them the truth. What if they decide to hate you?" River glanced at Mera. "I don't know about you, but I can't lose more people I care about. They would be disappointed, and so would I. That would be more painful than if A just shot me right now."

"Then I'll tell them."

River smiled. "Let's tell them together."

-

Sunset gripped the soft chair. Her glare rose to her sister. "So why  are you here?"

Dawn smiled sheepishly. "I just missed you!"

"YOU MISSED ME!" Sunset screamed. Rage lit up her face. "I would believe anything else. Luna married Flash Sentry, Celestia died, or even Twilight fell in love with you! But you think I would believe it when you say you missed me? You put me through so much when your mother married my father! What, did you miss torturing me?"

"I wanted to say I'm sorry!" Dawn broke in. "I did horrible things to you, and you didn't deserve any of it. I was jealous that our mother was spending so much time with you."

"And that's an excuse?"

Dawn sighed. She shook her head. "And I'm not asking for forgiveness. I just wanted you to know that I never hated you."

Sunset was slowly calming down. Forgiveness. The one thing I never thought I could have, but I earned it. So can she. She smiled. "I want to know the real you, and I'm ready to give you another chance to be a true sister."

Happiness jumped in Dawn's eyes. "Do- do you really mean it?"

Sunset nodded once. "Yes." Her eyes narrowed. "But if you screw it up, I'm not giving you another chance."

Dawn hugged her. "I won't. Thank you."

That's when Sunset's phone went off. She put it to her ear, and was deafened by a terrified scream.

"Aria?"

"Sunset!" Aria voice was shaky; she had been crying. "She's dead!"

Another sound, louder than the scream, blasted through her phones ear piece. It was like an explosive pop. Two screams rose on the air one last time, and then the line went silent for what felt like years.

A voice came through. "You should come get them before the animals eat their skin away."

The line want dead.

Sunset grabbed Dawn's hand. "Come with me!"

"Why?"

"I have a secret to tell you."

-

The friends met up outside the mines. Without a word, they all walked in, holding hands. None of them knew what they would see.

The foul stench of blood rent the air.

"Is that..." Adagio pulled Sonata closer to her. Her eyes filled with treats, as did those of her friends. "No."

A shriek made them all snap their heads up, and walked along the tracks of an old cart.

It wasn't long before their eyes rested on the three bodies.

Blood was streaked across the ground, on the walls, and on their friends bodies.

Sunset, who was praying that her friends were still alive, quicly dialed an ambulance and the police. "Hello? Th- there's been an accident. We're in the old mine shafts in the Everfree. Please hurry." She hardly finished before her service was cut off.

The mournful friends didn't look at each other.

Dawn was standing awkwardly. A small creaking brought her out of her confused state. "Did you hear that?"

"It was probably just a rock," Sour Sweet said.

"It wasn't." Dawn shook her head. The creaking started up again, and she gasped. "Oh, crap! The mine's caving in!"

Everyone was on their feet in an instant.

A few pebbles fell to the ground, closely followed by dirt and grit. Then rocks came down.

"What are we going to do?" Sonata cried.

"Follow me," an unknown voice ordered. "Come on!"

Indigo glared at the black air. "Who are you?" Her eyes searched the blackness. "What is your name?"

The voice came again. "Shut up! My old friend was right about you girls. You ask way many questions." He/she/it sounded exasperated. "You should learn to accept help when it's offered. I can get you out of here if you trust me. Sunset Shimmer. What do you think? Do you trust me?"

Sunset looked around at her friends. "Yes. I don't know why, but I do. I feel like I know you."

"Good. Now come on. I know my way around every shaft. You must be idiots of you would come here. This one has been falling apart for weeks."

"Did you kill three girls who were in here?" Rarity asked.

"I heard the gun shots, screams, and cries. I thought there might be other girls here, so I came looking. I found you, and now here we are."

Fresh air filtered through the mine. An opening sent light in.
They were pushed out, and fell to the ground. The three bodies we're already there.

Aria, Lem, and Sugarcoat.

"THEY'RE DEAD!" Dawn Shadow shrieked at the top of her lungs, deafening the others.

"Shut up!" Sunset hissed, with tears rolling freely down her cheeks. "You didn't even know them."

Indigo sank to the floor, next to Sunny. She embraced her friend in a hug. The two cried onto each other for a minute, before Indigo found her voice again. "They're gone."

Sunny's eyes were red, and her voice hoarse. "They promised to never leave us."

The girl who had helped them was long gone.

Emerald refused to look at River. "I- I think I know who did this. I just really hope I'm wrong." She was met with confused and hopeful stares. "I think it was..." her voice faded. She cleared her throat, and straightened her back. "I think it was Henna."

"Henna?" Sunset had a crazed look on her face. "That freak is dead."

"No, she's not," River confirmed. "She's alive because she's immortal. There are only a few things that can kill her, and some how ripping her body open isn't one of them."

"Then what can kill her?" Fluttershy dreaded the answer

Emerald sighed. "Celestia, Luna, the Elements of Harmony, and," she make eye contact with Sunset, "dark magic."

Sunset choked down her rage. "Tell me you're just screwing with me." Nothing. "Oh. Great, you're serious." She let out an angry huff. "If you really think I'm going to acquire dark magic again, don't get your hopes up. I don't want to turn into a freakish she-demon again."

With that, she turned and ran away from them, through the forest, and back to her apartment.

The book from Celestia was on her bed. She picked it up, and wrote a letter to Twilight for the first time in a while.

Dear Princess Twilight,
I know everyone has for given my for what I did, not it's still on their minds, it's still there. I know that I can't change what I did, but there has to be some way to make it right.
It has been almost four years since I last saw Celestia or my father. Now my step-sister showed up, and is pretending like she really cares about me.
Life was so much easier on Equestria, until I choose the path that I thought was best. It ruined my life, and the lives of people who try to get close to me. I wish they wouldn't try to ease my pain. Nothing will help.
And now I'm being asked to go she-demon again.
I wish I had had died instead of my mother. I'm a disappointment.
Sunset Shimmer-

She closed the book,and felt a tear rolling down her cheek.

The reply from Twilight was almost instant.

My dear friend Sunset,
I know you're going through a hard time in your life right now. We all do.
I'm not saying I know how you fell.
You need to remember that there are so many people who truly care about you, and love you for who you are, even when you make a mistake.
We'll always be here for you. You don't have to feel ashamed to ask when you need help.
And never say that you should be dead again.
I love you!
When are you going to start loving yourself again?
Twilight Sparkle<>

The answer flashed in Sunset's head, but she didn't write it. When my friends stop dying.

She remembered her first message from H.

Oh, law school. That should be fun! A change, and I'm free from you!

Almost eight months had passed since then, and though a lot had changed, most was still the same as it had been before.

The only difference now was that Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Sci-Twi, and their principals were all dead.

Yeah, Sunset thought. Not a big change at all.

She wheezed a little, and started breathing harder.

She rested her chin on her fist, and let her mind wander to her first day back at Harvard.

Josi peeled the sticker off the back of a Command Poster Strip. "I swear, of this one doesn't stay, I'm going to lose my mind."

Sunset gave her a sideways glance. A silhouette of a smile appeared on her lips."I'm so sorry to tell you this, my friend, but you already lost your mind."

"Hey, guess what?" Josi turned, and glared at Sunset. "I hate you!" But she smiled anyway. "I know you were just joking. But I really did lose my mind. I think it flew south for the...fall." She rolled the poster out. "Help me?"

Sunset helped her lift the poster to the wall, and pressed it against the strips.

"So when do classes start?" Sunset asked.

"Tomorrow." Josi answered without looking up. "We go to our classes by last name. It feels like were still five."

"Last name?"

Sunset narrowed her eyes. Last name? "What's so great about a last name?" Then she realized something: "Josi never told me her last name."

But there was something else Josi had said.

"Come and find me."

Sunset grabbed her year book from her first year, and flipped through the pages until she found Josi. The last name wasn't there. A note was taped to the page.

1946 Saint Edward's Street.

She wasn't sure what was there, but she texted Rarity and Adagio the address.

-

Adagio looked ready to find the killer of her sister, and murder them.

Rarity was worried for Sunny.

"Thank you for coming," Sunset said. "I think we know someone who is working for A."

"Who?" Adagio demanded. "I'm going to claw their eyes out!"

"You are the bast hackers I know. Can you get into the Harvard student list?"

Rarity was already working on her laptop. After a minute, a smug smile came to her face. "Okay, I'm in. Now, which student are we looking for?"

Sunset bit her lip. "Josi. I need to know her last name."

Adagio glared at her. "And you really think that this gorl has something to do with the murder of my sister, her friends, and the principals?"

She nodded.

"Um..." Rarity said quietly. "I found it."

"And?" Sunset asked.

The smug look was gone, and was replaced by fear, anger, and utter confusion. "Her last name is Hallows."

Sunset stared at the screen. "Oh my gosh." Her voice rose to a scream. "She's Blair's sister!"

You know the saying. "Expect the unexpected."
-
So we have met Sunset's step sister, and now you know that Josi is Blair's (older) sister.
And Sunset's date with Lilac. Did that remind you of Em's first date with Paige?
-
And I would rant about Pretty Little Liars, but it would probably be endless. (But the fact that they think Aria's dad killed Charlotte, and that Toby is engaged, makes me die a little inside...okay, a lot.)
-
And I know I said let it go, but I swear to delete any Frozen referenced comments.
Not that I don't like the movie or the song, but I'm sick of them.

Love ya!
*Aria_Rarity