>You pressed your right foot down against the kicker
>You hadn't ridden, or even touched this bike in years
>Hopefully it still worked
>You forced your foot down, causing the engine to make a low sputtering, but it quickly went silent
"Huh."
>You tried the same thing again
>You always thought it was a strange way to start the engine, but it gave you a sense of accomplishment every time you did
>Several minutes, and quite a few tries later, you forced the lever down once more
>Finally, the headlight came on, and the engine roared to life
>You couldn't help but put on a wide smile at your accomplishment
>Sunset took a step back
>The loud noise startled her from her boredom of waiting
>She stepped forwards and stood next to the bike
>"Motorcycle, huh? Never ridden on one before."
"Oh, it's loads of fun."
>You said, sitting down on the leather seat
"Might be a little cold, but it's faster than walking
>Sunset looked down at her jacket
>"I should be okay, but we can't have you freezing to death out there..."
>She said, looking around curiously as she did
>She then spotted something on a nearby table
>She reached out to grab it, then turned to present you with a dusty old black leather jacket
>"Now you'll really fit the part!"
>You took the jacket and dusted it off, taking a look over it
>You forgot your dad even owned this
>Well, it was better than just a T-shirt and jeans
>You put on the jacket and got it to zipper up
>It was a decent fit
>Sunset swung her leg over the bike and sat behind you, wrapping her arms around you
>You instantly found out why bikers usually kept girls on the backs of their bikes'
>It was like a hug...
>But somehow nicer
"Ready?"
>"Ready!"
>You released the brake and began rolling towards the door
>Minutes later, you were out of the garage, and driving down the paved street towards the main road that led into town
>Sunset was holding onto you tightly, but she seemed to really be enjoying the ride
>As were you
>Despite the cold air, the ride was still quite enjoyable
>Riding on a motorcycle with a beautiful girl holding onto you
>What could be better?
>You stopped to pump some gas into the bike before continuing into town
>You stopped the bike in a parking space along the street in the downtown area of town
"Alrightly Sunset, where to first?"
"You asked, shutting off the engine
>"Hmm.."
>Sunset thought about the question for a few moments before swinging her leg over and getting off the bike
>"Let's try some of the fancier stores first."
>You could just see your dollar bills flying away
>Sunset slugged your shoulder gently, knowing that look on your face
"Oh com'on, Anon. I just want to look."
>She said, giggling as she turned and began walking down the sidewalk
>You caught up to her and walked alongside her
>This would either be very enjoyable, or very, very boring
>It's been at least four hours
>The both of you had only been to a couple stores so far
>So many outfits...
>"What about this one?"
>Sunset walked out of the dressing room once more, sporting yet another cold weather outfit
>You couldn't help but laugh, before quickly silencing yourself
>She looked like Elmer Fud
"Pfft, i-it's great!"
>She simply scowled at you as she turned back to try on another outfit
>It seemed as though another hour passed
>She had finally narrowed down her selections
>"What do you think, Anon?"
>She held up two sets of outfits
"Those are the two you really like?"
>She nodded happily
>Goodbye, money
"Alrighty, bring them both along."
>"Both of them? Are you sure?"
"Mhm, I am. Can't have you walking around in skirts in the snow, you'll freeze to death."
>Sunset followed you up to the cash register, where you paid for her outfits
>You made a mental note to visit an ATM later and transfer some more money onto your card
>Sunset latched onto your side as you walked out the door
>You smiled and put your arm around her
>The money you'd dropped on her today was more than worth it to see her happy
>You walked back to the motorcycle and opened up the leather saddle-bags on either side of the bike, before putting Sunset's bags into them and securing them shut
>You sat on the bike before turning to her
"Hungry?"
>She nodded and climbed on behind you
"We'll grab something to eat at Joe's. I need to swing by the ATM on the way there."
>Sunset held onto you tightly again as you pulled away from the curb, and took off down the road
>You pulled up in front of the ATM, parking the bike on the side of the curb
>You swung your leg over the bike and stepped onto the street
>Seemingly out of nowhere, a red car blew past you at a high speed, nearly running you down
"Hey, watch it!"
>You yelled, as the car took a sharp left down the next street
>"Are you alright?!"
>Sunset jumped off the bike and wrapped her arms around you tightly before checking you over frantically
>You put your hands on her shoulders and managed to calm her down after a few moments
"Hey hey, I'm fine. He didn't hit me."
>You gave her a reassuring smile
>The both of you walked up to the ATM
>You pulled out your card and swiped it
>"Greetings. You have $900.00 in your savings account."
>Sunset looked up to you with a bit of a surprised look on her face
>"Wow. That's a lot.. I didn't know you had a job, Anon."
"I don't."
>Sunset gave you a confused look as you pressed the buttons to move $80.00 onto your card
"That's the upside to my dad's job. He makes enough to put $1,000.00 into both mine and my mom's account every half month, and still have fat stacks left over. The downside is that he's always away for so long.."
>"Thank you for your transaction!"
>The machine spat out your cash, which you took and stashed in your wallet
>"Oh.."
>Sunset looked a bit saddened at your answer
>You picked up on this and gently nudged her shoulder
>"I think you'd like him. And my mom. We're usually all together in the spring. I'm sure they'd be real happy to meet you."
>She smiled a bit and leaned against you side
"Come on, let's go get some food."
>You both turned the corner and began walking down to sidewalk
>Parked along the curb, was the red car that had nearly hit you
"Hey, there's that c-"
>"Rrragh!"
>CRACK
>The last thing you felt was a strong pain coursing through your head
>Then everything was dark
>You heard voices
>Familier voices
>It sounded like arguing
>Or fighting...
>You finally managed to force your eyes open
>What you were looking at was the concrete ground of an alleyway, and a puddle of blood on it
>That's when you felt the splitting pain in your head
>You used the wall you were apparently slouched against to try to pull yourself up
>Suddenly, you were grabbed from both sides by two large figures
"Dumbell and Hoops.."
>You thought out loud
>"Anon!!"
>You looked up to see Sunset, being held back by, of course, Gilda
>You struggled to get free, which was met by a swift hook to your gut by Dumbell, who was holding a baseball bat in his off hand
>At least now you knew what you were hit with
>"So, he's finally awake."
>Gilda wore a proud smirk as she stepped towards you
>"Oh, Sunset. What did you think was going to happen? We would just leave you alone, in fear of this pathetic scrap of a boy, and his little pocketknife?"
>She let out a cold, grim chuckle
>"I told you from the beginning. One way or another, I'd get what I want from you. And now, I have leverage."
>With that, Gilda brought a swift right hook across your face
>Sunset shrieked and ran to you, but Gilda simply shoved her back
>"So what's it going to be, miss Shimmer? You give me what I want, or I let Dumbell here practice his workouts on your little boyfriend."
>Sunset once more tried running towards you
>Gilda responded by slapping her across the face with extreme force, causing her to stumble back with a yell
>No.
>You weren't going to let that happen again.
>You recalled how Sunset had told you of the physical abuse she had been enduring
>How you promised you'd make it stop
>Now was your chance
>You let out a loud scream as you used all the raw strength you could muster to bring down your right arm, pulling Hoops down and causing him to fall to the ground
>You quickly brought your fist up, landing it square on Dumbell's nose
>He let go of your arm and the bat to grab his face
>Dumbell stumbled back and fell into a pile of trash
>By the amount of blood flowing, you'd say his nose was broken
>You turned and began stepping towards Gilda, who was frantically searching for some sort of weapon
>"Anon! Look out!"
>Suddenly, you felt a sharp pain in your right leg, which caused you to collapse to the ground with a yell
>It was your knee
>It felt almost broken, or very near it
>Hoops stood behind you, baseball bat in hand
>He loomed over you, raising his bat to crush you
>All you could think of, looking up to what could possibly be the last thing you'd ever see, was Sunset
>Hoops let out a yelp as he was hit with a brick, which caused him to stumble and fall, dropping the bat
>The brick must have come from Sunset
>No time to waste
>You grabbed the bat and smelt up to a kneel with your good knee, hitting Hoops across the face as he tried to stand
>That would put him out for a while
>You turned to see Gilda running at you with a cinder block
>You tensed up and swung the bat as hard as you could
>Gilda screamed as the bat hit her right arm, causing to drop the block and stumble back, falling with her back to a dumpster
>You felt no pain
>Too much adrenalin
>You stood up to your feet, and limped slowly towards the now cowering Gilda
>You raised your baseball bat behind your head, ready to strike the one who'd assaulted you and abused the girl you loved
>You were snapped from your daze by a familiar voice
>"Anon! Wait!"
>You slowly turned to see Sunset, visibly shaken to tears by the whole event
>"Don't do it..! You're better than this! Don't be like her.."
>Tears flowed freely down her cheeks
>You turned to gaze back down at Gilda, tightening your grip on the bat.
>You lowered the bat from behind her head and held it against Gilda's left cheek
"Listen. And listen good."
>You knelt down close to her, glaring into her eyes
"If you EVER so much as come near Sunset again, or if I hear of you doing anything like this to anyone else, I will finish what I started here today.
>You took a quick glance back to Sunset before looking back to Gilda
"She just saved your life."
>With that, you stood back up to your feet and took a step back
>The pain in both your head and your leg was starting to come back strong now
>You turned to look at Sunset
>She stood there in the middle of the alley, tears still on her cheeks
>You took a limp towards her, but she responded by taking a single step back
>This caused you to freeze in your tracks
>She seemed rather frightened
>Frightened at you
"S-Sunset..."
>She simply stood there for several moments
>Several long, agonizing moments
>Your mind raced, trying to think if all the things that could be going through her head
>Finally, after what seemed like hours... She took a step
>A step towards you
>A step that turned into a run
>She grabbed you and pulled you into a tight hug, which almost caused you to lose your balance
>"Anon..."
>You hugged her back, but let go after a few moments and motioned towards the end of the alley
"Come on... Let's get out of here."
>Sunset had helped you back along the sidewalk
>The both of you stood next to the motorcycle
"Those bastards won't be bothering you anymore.."
>"There was something off, though.."
"What is it?"
>Sunset sat on the bike
>"There was one of them missin-"
>Speak of the devil...
>And he shall appear
>The red car came speeding down the road
>Hoops was driving
>It was headed straight for the both of you
>You wouldn't be able to move fast enough
>You suddenly felt yourself being shoved over forcefully
>You tumbled to the ground just in time to see the red car smash into the white van parked in front of our motorcycle
>For a split second, everything was silent
>And then...
>Thud.
>You saw Sunset fall to the ground, having just rolled off the top of the red car
>She wasn't moving..
>She was bleeding, though...
>A lot.
>In that moment, you felt as if you weren't even entirely in control of your body
>You forced yourself to your feet and stepped over to the car
>You nearly tore the door from it's hinges
>Score didn't even have time to look up before you pulled him from his seat
>Sunset wasn't there to keep you from destroying them this time>Right hook
>Left hook
>Right
>Left
>Right
>Left
>You had Score propped up against the car, and were repeatedly forcing your fists into his face
"You bastard!"
>You put a great amount of force behind your next right hook, which caused him to slump over to the ground
>Not good enough
>You found the bat on the ground, which you had still been holding when Sunset pushed you
"YOU KILLED HER!"
>You swung the bat harder than you ever thought possible, cracking his left knee
>Then his right
>He screamed and writhed in pain
>The next few bat swings hit his chest
>You could hear his ribs cracking
>All you saw was red
>All you saw was her
>Bystanders were looking on in awe, some were franticly calling the police
>You didn't care
>It was several moments before you realized that the bat was broken from the blows you dealt
>You resorted to your fists again
>Sirens
>Getting closer
>You felt yourself yanked away from Score
>You shook and thrashed and yelled as you were dragged away
>There was a sharp electrical pain running through your body
>Then, once again, darkness
>You woke up with a jolt, sitting up quickly in your bed
>Bed..?
>Wait..
>This wasn't your bed
>You looked around the room you were in
>Clean, well lit, soft, white colored walls and ceiling...
>This wasn't your room
>You looked down at yourself, and your suspicions were confirmed by the white sheets, and the restraints on your hands
>You suddenly recalled earlier's events
>The beatings, the yelling, the car crash...
>Sunset.
>You slumped back down against the bed as you remembered what had happened
>The image of her lying there on the cold, dirty street, the blood, her motionlessness...
>You suddenly wished that you hadn't been brought to the hospital and saved
>Not only would you probably now face prison time for the man you likely killed, but now, it would be for nothing
>You looked over to see the digital clock on the stand next to your "bed"
>2:03AM
>No one would be awake
>You laid there for what seemed like days, simply staring up at the ceiling
>The sedative you were given had long worn off, and you now felt the full pain of a concision, a fractured jaw, a broken knee, and various other cuts and bruises
>Your gaze turned to the clock again
>Only forty-five minutes had passed
>You had no idea how you were going to get through the rest of the day, let alone...
>Your new life in prison
>A life without Sunset Shimmer.
>Another hour passed
>It was nearly four in the morning
>You hadn't slept at all
>You couldn't
>The doorknob turned slowly, and the door creaked open slowly
>A nurse walked in holding a tray of various small tubes and bottles
>She flicked the lights on and turned before letting out a startled gasp at seeing you awake
>"I-I'm sorry, I didn't know you were awake.."
>She seemed a bit frightened, and rightfully so
>Beatings didn't happen very often here in Canterlot
>It was rare that such violence occurred, especially on the streets
"It's fine."
>You muttered in a low tone, as the nurse walked over and connected one of the small bottles of fluid to your I.V. drip
>"Can I ask you something..?"
>You simply nodded in response
>"Did you really beat up all those boys on the streets..?"
>Great, everyone probably knew now
"It wasn't by choice."
>You sighed heavily and looked straight forwards at the wall as you explained
"They attacked us. Knocked me out and beat me. All to try and hurt her...
They've been abusing her for months... I couldn't let it go on anymore, I had no choice...
And then..."
>A single tear rolled down your right cheek slowly
"He killed her. Hit her with a car..."
>You looked up to the nurse finally, your voice starting to stutter
"S-she pushed me out of the way... She saved me..."
>The nurse looked down at a clipboard on her try before turning back to you
>"When you say her, do you mean a girl named Sunset Shimmer..?"
>You nodded again
>The nurse set her try down before taking a few steps backwards
>She went and opened the door before calling down the hall
>"Doctor!"
>After several minutes passed, the nurse returned
>The head doctor was with her
>He wore a smile as he entered the room and checked the clipboard at the foot of your bed
>"Ah, Mr. Anonymous! Glad to see you're awake."
>You looked down at the doctor, a bit confused why the nurse would need to bring him in when you mentioned Sunset
"Yeah... What is it?"
>"Well, Mr. Anonymous, you're rather lucky. Your wounds will heal with time. Your concussion is not sever, and your knee, while severely fractured, is not broken. We should be able to release you later tonight."
>You sighed once again and looked down to your blanket
"Lucky...? Doc, I was assaulted and beaten today. As if that wasn't enough, the girl I love got hit, and killed, by a car. I don't think I'm very lucky at all."
>"Actually, Anon, you've been here for two days. The events you're referring two are a couple days passed.
But we can talk more on that later. There's someone here who wants to see you."
>With that, the doctor stepped aside
>A talk man wearing a blue police officer's uniform walked into the room and tipped his hat towards you as he stood next to the doctor
>"This is police deputy Charles. He'd like to talk to you about the experience. If you need anything, we'll be outside."
>With that, the doctor and the nurse both left the room, and closed the door
>You were a bit surprised, as the police officer's first action was to unbuckle your arm restraints
>"Well son, as it turns out, you've done us all a good favor."
>You have the officer a confused look as he sat down in a chair next to your bed
>"The group you helped to apprehend has been a thorn in our side for the past year. Those ruffians have been on a streak of theft, vandalism, arson, and even a few beatings for the past year and a half. You've helped bring them to justice."
"I killed at least one of them, I'm sure. Why are you thanking me, sir?"
>You looked over to him
>"Two of the boys are in the intensive care unit downstairs."
>"The other boy and the girl are cozied up in a cell back at the station."
>You almost felt bad for not having been able to avenge your love with the life of the one who'd taken her's
"That's good.."
>"Now normally, you would be looking at prolonged prison time and thousands in fines..."
>You looked back down at the sheets with a defeated look on your face
>"...but, since you apprehended these criminals, we're willing to let you walk away from this without any charges."
>You looked up to him and smiled slightly
"Thank you.. Officer."
>He nodded and stood before turning to step out of the room, but stopped for a moment and looked back
>"Oh, and, I've managed to pull a few strings down at the station. I don't think anyone will notice if the files on you operating an unregistered vehicle without proper license go 'missing."
>With that, the officer left the room
>After that, the day dragged along slowly
>The doctor and nurses came in frequently to make a few tests, and to prepare you for your departure later that evening
>You were given a pair of crutches and instruction on how to use them, before the same nurse from earlier came to take you in a wheelchair
>It was late evening by now
>The nurse was wheeling you towards the lobby, but slowed to a halt
>"Anon.. Would you mind if I took you somewhere else before you leave? There's something that I... Think you should see."
>You nodded and leaned back in the chair with a sigh
"Yeah... Yeah let's go."
>The nurse began wheeling you in a different direction, back towards the wing of the hospital you had been in, but another corridor or two away
>This area was more busy
>Nurses and doctors everywhere
>People visiting their hospitalized loved ones
>She wheeled you down to one of the last rooms and left out outside the door as she stepped into the room
>You sat there, staring at the door of room 316 for what felt like an eternity
>At last, the door opened
>The nurse walked out a very slow pace
>"Here he is, miss."
"Miss? I'm not a-"
>The nurse stepped aside
>Now standing in her place was a different girl
>It was her
>Sunset Shimmer
>Her eyes lit up and she nearly jumped on you, and you on her, ignoring your braces knee
>Sunset was wearing a sling on her left arm, and a few bandages on her legs, head, and other arm
>The nurse smiled and watched as the two of you simply stayed in each other's arms for what felt like hours
>You wished you could stay right there forever
>After a long while, the two of you pulled away to look over each other, as if to make sure it was really happening
"But... But I saw you roll off the car, you were l-lying there in a puddle of blood..."
>Sunset smiled through tears and finally spoke in a soft, soothing voice
>"Right after I pushed you, I managed to jump so that I only hit the windshield. My arm got fractured and a few of my left ribs are cracked, but I'm alive. The blood was from a large cut on my left arm from some of the broken glass
>You stared at her in disbelief, crying tears of joy
>The nurse stepped over and looked at you
>"Part of you being released is that you must be looked after for a week or two. I think miss Shimmer will fill the job position nicely."
>Sunny looked from the nurse back to you
>"And, I was hoping, maybe I could keep that position for longer after that, too.."
>She looked at you with a questioning smile
>You nodded and pulled her close, holding her tightly
"Miss Sunset Shimmer...you have the job."