We had ran out of food again, sooner than I had hoped. It only took a day unfortunately. So I had to go out again. Now I have a problem. I have things I like to avoid when I go out.

One: People. Two: Whatever mutated, dying creature wanderers out of The Core. And Three: Falling asleep or unconscious.

Right now, I can hear them breathing, so it's either rule one or two. At first I thought it was the wind, but it's too regular. The thin layer of latex mask hugging my face and neck pinches as I look around cautiously. It's the mask me and Sonata found at that police station, a very basic gas mask, hence why I'm traveling closer to the Core than I usually like to, I can't find anything any closer to home.

I crouch down and grasp my hand around a ragged metal reinforcement bar on the top of the rubble. I stand up quietly, shifting the mid-weight bit around in my hand. Around this corner. I slither against the wall, then peer around the edge. I see a small bare, blotchy hand grasping around out from under a pile of rubble, trying to move some of it; though it's failing horribly. A basement? Probably for maintaining the old indoor heating and cooling. What building was this again? "Hellooo…?" A hopeless little voice calls out from the rubble. Do I risk being seen? What if it's a trap?

My hand tightens around my twisted metal stake, "How many are down there?" I call out in an almost monotone, remaining hidden.

"Hello?" The girly voice peaks up, ending in a wet cough. "Who's there?" She croaks. Her voice sounds very dry, like she hasn't drunken anything in a few days.

"How many of you is down there?" I repeat. She could very well lie, even if she answers. I glance around: The way back has a fifty-fifty chance of being an ambush in and of itself, there's a window on my right; per-shattered. A quick and silent getaway if things go down. Then there's always the stairs a hall back.

"Just me really.. A couple of my teachers..." I perk an eyebrow as she takes a moment, breathing heavily. "They were further down here. They haven't been saying much though, I think they got out somewhere and went to get help. Are you here to help me?"

I almost want to just bolt. This isn't sitting right with me, I feel sick and nervous. I carefully step out around the corner and cross from stone to stone, making sure none will make a noise. I hunch down, peering from a safe distance into the hole. "You look like a really big bug thing." A little face peers from the dark hole, coughing as she laughs.

Elementary School. "You must've been down there for at least two weeks. Only way you might have survived the harmony core's birth at least." I mutter to myself more than her. Bad habit, gotta stop it; it'll get me in big trouble one day, I know it. "What's your name?" I address her this time, speaking as clearly as I can through this mask.

"I'm Sunny, Sunny Smiles." She gets closer to the opening, revealing her light yellow tinged pale skin and bright, vibrant blue eyes. "Are you here to help me?" She asks, tilting her head. I eye the rubble, I could probably move it. She would never survive being outside of there though, not to say she'd survive down there either. I can already see it, her cheeks are brown and flaking away in places. There's black blotches all over her arms, where the skin and everything under it is already dead.

I hesitate only a moment. "Yes, I'm here to help."

Her face lights up, "Really?" I nod.

I stand up, "...Let me find something to get you out." I say as I walk back to the corner, eying the way I came. I could just leave, not do what I know is right. Instead, I reach down and struggle to pick up a nearby two-by-four board. My strength is indeed draining, I can't live in that illusion any longer that I'm fine, that I won't be affected by the deprivation of magical energies constantly flowing through my veins. Eventually I'll be bedridden, just like Aria… I pull the board across the rubble to the hole, "Back up." I tell her, feeding a fourth of the board under the rubble.

I put all my weight on the other end, seesawing the rubble up. I grunt before shoving into the beam, pushing the block of cement back, clearing a larger opening in the hole. I pant, dropping the board as I collapse on my butt, leaning against an only partially destroyed wall.

"Miss…?" The girl calls out from the hole.

I groan, sitting up and almost crawling to the edge. "Yeah… C'mon." I gesture her over.

"Please..." She coughs, gagging on some liquid inside her before walking over. "I'm so hungry, do you have any food…?" Her young eyes look up at me with hope, her face filthy and dying. Skin flaking away in black specks. Her hair, almost certainly a long, flowing bright blue, now pale, falling out and her scalp molting. I hesitate again, then nod and pick her up out of the cleared hole. I sit her down gently on the rubble, her head flicks around as fast as she can allow without it being painful, I click my light on and flash it around in the hole, looking for something useful. Nothing but this putrid smell that I don't want to think about.

I click the light, reattaching it to my pack and huff as I lean back against the wall from earlier. I close my eyes, seeing stars. I used too much energy… Not again, never again. I can't do that again, or I won't make it back to Aria.

A heaving, sputtering cough from my left catches my attention, I open my eyes slowly and glance over to the small girl. She's coughing up blood. I breathe slowly, finally catching my breath and regaining my senses.

She wipes her hand on her slightly torn and dirty pants leg, before crawling over. "Thank you..." She murmurs.

I close my eyes, emptying myself. "Yeah. No problem." I hear my voice tell her. I sit up and wrap my arms around her, holding her tightly. "It'll be okay." I pause. "Soon."

She squeezes her half of the hug, and I squeeze my hug back around her neck.

Then I squeeze tighter. And tighter. I feel her start to struggle to get out of my arms but I just push the thought away as I start to sing an old, old lullaby. "Hush now..." My voice croaks at even the thought of singing. "Quiet now… It's time to lay your sleepy head..."

I vaguely notice her finger nails trying to dig through my coat arms; trying to pry my arms from her. "Hush now, quiet now." I speed up the song, squeezing so tight the muscles my arms burn and scream at me to stop. Her fingers start slipping from my arms, her entire body relaxi-No. Not relaxing, deflating. "It's time to go to bed..." I finally let my tears out, they fill the little space between my mask and my face, leaving me filling wet and sticky, but I don't care.

Her body is limp in my arms, but I don't let go. I just sit there, holding an already rotting corpse of another victim of my foolishness and selfishness, bathing her in my self pity. What the hell kind of monster am I?

Dear Princess Twilight,

You need to hurry, the government here is mobilizing and I think they're planning to do something really drastic and really stupid. They have the perimeter of the… We need a name for it. How about… Hey Twilight, Rainbow here. I think we should call it something really awesome. How about 'The Rainbow Sector'? Catchy right?

Sorry about that, I'm back(Sunset I mean). But, anyway, how about The Center? Because it's technically the center of this universe's magic, I feel that might be an apt name for it.

Sorry, got off topic. The government here has the perimeter of The Center closed off. In fact, some of the fencing goes right by Sweet Apple Acres. I have Applejack looking around there to see if there's a way to get in if we need to. I think she has Big Mac helping.

Your student of Friendship Magic and friend,

Sunset Shimmer