//------------------------------// // Chapter 1 // Story: Firebirds' Nest // by Blazeblast4 //------------------------------//         “Monster!”  “How could you do this, she-demon?!”         “Go back to where you belong, freak!”         Surrounded by vitriolic students, Sunset remained sitting on the floor crying, after being tripped and ganged up on by every student in the hall. All of them were screaming at her for spreading their secrets, something she had no part in. To make matters worse, many of these same students praised Anon-A-Miss and were waiting excitedly for the next post by the mysterious account, if their comments on the posts and way they talked about the account when they thought she wasn’t around were any indication. It didn’t help that her friends had abandoned her the second they became suspicious of Sunset falling back into her old ways, going out of their way to cut her off as much as possible, leaving her to face the hordes of angry students alone. Sunset then noticed her journal lying on the floor. Sometimes all you can do is stay strong. Stay yourself. And Find your family. What family? Wait ... family, I feel like I’m missing something important. Sunset started tuning out the world around her, getting lost in thought, to the point where she didn’t even notice the paper balls and erasers being thrown at her. What is it about family that is bugging me? It’s not like I have anyone else left to support me. I was technically less alone before the Fall Formal. At least then I had Snips and Snails. Wait, I didn’t work alone, so why should I assume Anon-A-Miss is one person? Maybe it was a family? At this point, Sunset had stopped crying and was completely zoned out, her unresponsiveness to the world around her was starting to worry the other students nearby. Some started backing off, while others tried yelling more to get her attention, and one even tried throwing a paperback book at her, but she didn’t react to any of it.  That doesn’t work though, a single family wouldn’t be able to get these secrets. Something was stirring in Sunset’s gut, making her very uneasy. She felt she was on the right track, but was dreading the answer. I don’t think the sirens have anyone that could be targeting me, and I can’t think of any students that have family that could get the secrets this Anon-A-Miss was. Well except for my frie- former friends’ families … Sunset finally figured out where the dread was coming from. It was the one angle she hadn’t considered, not because it hadn’t crossed her mind, but because she thought—no, wanted to believe, that they were better than that. While this was going on, the other students were really getting worried. Sunset still hadn’t reacted to anything they were doing, one student going as far as trying to poke her hard in the cheek. All of the yelling and throwing had stopped, and the students had all subconsciously backed away a bit. “What’s wrong with her?” one of them whispered. “I don’t know, think she finally lost it?” “Should we check if she’s ok?” “Why would we do that?” “What if she snaps?” “Well, does she deserve to just be left there like that, even if she is Anon-A-Miss?” The students continued whispering among themselves, trying to figure out what to do. “We should make sure that she’s okay,” one student ventured. “Are you crazy? What if she’s finally snapped? She could seriously hurt us!” another student discouraged. “Do you think it’s our fault that she snapped?” another student tremulously queried while nervously rubbing his arm in a nervous tic. “She deserves it after everything she tried to do to us!” another student yelled. “If she’s not going to do anything, why don’t we draw on her face and arms? I think she needs to be humiliated more! Especially since she’s the one that is telling everyone our secrets!” Upon seeing all of this, Apple Bloom quietly left the hall and called her friends. Meanwhile, Sunset had finally pieced it together. The only options left are either my former friends, or their families. There’s no way they would all sabotage themselves just to have a reason to hate me. Even Rainbow’s ego and jealousy wouldn’t go that far. Then she remembered how Rainbow had acted during the Battle of the Bands. Okay, maybe it would, but she wouldn’t be able to pull this off or humiliate herself. That only leaves their families, but which of them would do this? I doubt it was their parents, Granny Smith, or Big Mac, so that leaves their sisters. They definitely could do it. Between the three of them, they could’ve easily gotten all the secrets and Sweetie Belle could’ve gotten the pictures, not to mention they’re good enough with computers, but why would they do this? Apple Bloom never had a reason and I doubt Sweetie Belle would go this far to get revenge for the Spring Fling, so that leaves Scootaloo, but I definitely don’t remember doing anything to her ... . Come to think of it, what do I know about her? She practically worships Rainbow, but that wouldn’t be enough of a reason, especially to convince the other two. Even if she posted Applejack’s nickname without Apple Bloom knowing, there’s no way she’d be able to convince her and Sweetie to join her. She’s not even Rainbow’s sister! Wait … . Thinking through everything she knew about the scrawny girl, something finally clicked. She could only think of one reason, and everything seemed to point to it. Of course, if she was right, it would severely complicate things. I think I can fix it, but should I really go that far? After a bit of self doubt mixed with the usual self loathing and guilt, something finally snapped. Screw it! I’m done holding back! If I’m right, they don’t deserve me holding back! They couldn’t handle themselves at all during the Battle of the Bands, and obviously I can’t trust them if they’re willing to just toss me away like this! I’m doing this my way.         The tension had reached a boiling point in the hall. Some teachers passing through had seen the large group of students and went to check on the situation, but upon seeing what was going on and hearing the other students, had no clue what to do. Cheerilee, getting sick of waiting around, approached Sunset, though before she got close enough to touch her, Sunset quickly stood up. “Sunset, are you-” Everyone in the hallway flinched and backed away as soon as they saw Sunset. They had all seen angry Sunset before, but this was different. She wasn’t exploding like she normally did. Her expression was a mix between cold rage, determination, and a hint of authority and poise they had only seen when she was taking down the sirens. Needless to say, they were all too terrified to do anything. I guess it’s finally time to use my emergency plan, Sunset thought to herself as she got up. She picked up the journal and wrote a quick note to Twilight as she walked out, completely ignoring the people around her. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------         Half an hour later, Twilight stumbled out of the portal, carrying a small burlap bag. Spike followed soon after, sinking into the snow. Spike tried to walk towards Twilight, but kept fumbling in the snow. “Ugh, how do you move in this stuff?” Spike groaned as he struggled to move, falling deeper into the snow and failing to climb out.         After a little chuckle, Twilight picked him up, “The snow’s too soft and deep for your height. You won’t be able to easily walk in it.” Now that they were in the human world, Twilight wondered what to do next. Sunset had wrote to her that she figured out who Anon-A-Miss was and was going to confront her friends-No, she specifically called them ‘the girls’, I hope I’m overthinking this, at five in Sugarcube Corner, and asked Twilight not to interfere. Twilight had hoped to see Sunset before then, but she had no clue where to look for her. While she could potentially find some of her friends, she wasn’t sure if that was a good idea. Still, she had an hour and a half before the confrontation and Sugarcube Corner was only five minutes away. Noticing Twilight getting anxious, Spike asked “Are you okay? Why are you so nervous?” Of course I’m nervous! Why wouldn’t I be after that message? Oh, I never told Spike about Anon-A-Miss! How do I tell him-  “Hello Twilight, what brings you here today?” Twilight jumped up a bit, startled out of her train of thought. Looking behind her, she saw Principal Celestia. “Sunset asked me to bring this for her,” Twilight answered, holding up the bag. “She also said she figured out who Anon-A-Miss is.” After thinking for a second, she added, “Please tell me you and Luna didn’t think it was her,” Twilight replied, looking rather upset. Tilting her head in confusion, Celestia said, “I’m sorry Twilight, but I don’t know what you’re talking about. I was at a school board conference all week, and Luna was sick. She came in a few hours ago to sort through what we missed, and I’m heading there right now to catch up.” Before she could say anything else, she heard her phone ring with a rather abrasive ring tone. Both her and Luna used it for urgent calls from the school. “I’m sorry Twilight, I have to take this.” Pulling out her phone, Celestia answered, “Hello, this is Principal Celestia, what-” She recoiled, pulling the phone away from her ear. Someone was shouting loud enough on the other end that Twilight could here. “Calm down Luna! What is it?” After a few seconds, “Wait, is this about Sunset and Anon-A-Miss? Twilight just came through and knows something about it, should I bring her?” Celestia fidgeted a bit as she waited for Luna to reply. “Okay, see you in a bit.” Ending the call and taking a deep breath, Celestia turned to Twilight. “Follow me, Luna says she saw something we have to see, tell me everything you know about this Anon-A-Miss on the way.” Twilight had to almost run to keep up with Celestia. “All I know is that after a slumber party, someone posted Applejack’s secret, then after another, someone posted photos that Sunset took to humiliate Rarity. After that, they thought it was Sunset, and stopped treating her like a friend,” said Twilight. A minute later, they arrived at Luna’s office. Celestia opened the door and inside saw a frantic Luna, watching something on the laptop, jotting something down, then clicking on something before she repeated the process, not noticing the door opening. “Ahem,” Celestia cleared her throat, getting Luna’s attention, “Hello Luna, how are you doing?” Celestia hadn’t seen her in a week and while she knew Luna had recovered, she was still worried. With a small smile, Luna answered, “Fine, just have a bit of a cough left over. And hello to you Twilight.” The smile quickly fell, “I wish you were here under better circumstances.  What do you know about this Anon-A-Miss?” Twilight told her the same thing she told Celestia earlier. Luna sighed and rubbed her temples. “It’s much worse than that. So many secrets have been leaked and tensions are running high. There are ten times as many students in trouble, and even the faculty has been having issues. Whoever Anon-A-Miss is, they were even able to get Celestia’s little cake … incident.” “Ugh, I thought I was finally past that,” Celestia groaned. When Twilight looked at her confused, Celestia added, “We ordered several cakes for a graduation party, and the baker gave us an extra. After the party, when I thought I was alone, I tried the cake. It was amazing, and I dived right into it. Needless to say, I wasn’t actually alone.” “Dived into it is underselling it,” Luna chuckled. “She ravished the poor cake like a wolf.” Luna shifted in her seat, her expression turning grim. “Unfortunately, things get much worse from here. The comments on the Anon-A-Miss posts are mostly positive. Only people directly affected by the posts aren’t asking for more, laughing, or praising the poster. Yet the same students have absolutely no problem taking out their anger on the one they think is responsible. Look at this.” Luna set up the video as Celestia and Twilight came to see. When Twilight had heard that the school had turned against Sunset, she thought that she meant no one was supporting her. When Luna hit play, that was completely shattered. Sunset was terrified, walking trying to be as small as possible as she walked through the hall. Students were all glaring at her, many whispering, some yelling at her, and some even bumping into her or throwing small objects. One particular student stopped in front of her, then when Sunset bumped into her, she shoved Sunset and started yelling at her. Sunset burst into tears and ran off, some students laughing, others still glaring, and one had attempted to trip her, but failed. They then went back to their normal routines as though nothing happened. Luna jumped to another point, then another, and another. Some weren’t as bad, and occasionally a teacher or faculty member would break it up, but sometimes the they would just watch and a few times even joined the students. One in particular got bad enough to the point where if the janitor Discord hadn’t stepped in, Sunset would’ve been seriously hurt. What made it worse though, was that none of her friends were ever there to help Sunset. “What about Sunset’s friends? Where were they?” Spike asked. Luna flinched at the question. That’s definitely not a good sign, Twilight thought. She braced herself as Luna went to the earliest point she had written. The video started off with Sunset walking down the hall and greeting her friends like any normal day. What wasn’t normal, was how the girls were all glaring at her. After they asked her if she had lost her phone and she pulled it out, they showed her the post with the pictures, then claimed they were hers. They all started yelling at her, accusing her of being Anon-A-Miss without giving her a chance to defend herself, and to top it off, even said she faked their friendship. Sunset was already crying at this point, but they wouldn’t speak, yelling at her that they wouldn’t fall for tricks anymore and that they weren’t friends, leaving her crying on the ground, a puddle forming around her. After a few moments of stunned silence, Twilight put Spike down and ran to nearest trash can throwing up her lunch. Spike and Celestia weren’t doing much better, both had paled and shaking a bit. Luna just sat there, resigned, as she had already seen it. After a few moments Spike recovered and yelled, “How could they do that?! How could they after everything we’ve been through? Why would they not even give her a chance to defend herself?!” Spike stopped as a wave of guilt washed over him. Noticing Spike’s reaction, Twilight, stomach now completely empty, said, “No Spike, this is much worse than the wedding. I’ve been known to overreact and played right into her hooves. I’d been accusing her of little things the entire time after already being mad about not being told earlier about my brother’s engagement and impending wedding, then I jumped in yelling like a crazy mare without providing any hard evidence regarding my claims and accusations. Of course you would believe Shining Armor over me, and he was mind controlled at the time.” Twilight winced at the memory, it still hurt from time to time, especially Celestia’s reaction, but continued, “Sunset wasn’t acting any different. Not only that, they just started yelling at her. They were the only ones who were there for her after the Fall Formal, though now I’m wondering just how authentic their friendship really was. Still, the first people to give a chance suddenly ... turning … on ...” Twilight trailed off before running back to the trash can and dry heaving. Spike tried to figure out what caused Twilight to throw up again. How else is this different from the wedding? Twilight said that it was her actions that caused everyone to turn on her, but here Sunset hadn’t done anything to be the suspect. The only ones who thought it was her … Spike, realizing what Twilight had, ran off to join her, throwing up his own lunch. After they recovered, Celestia asked, “What happened?” worried at the two’s sudden reaction. Spike started growling as Twilight explained, barely keeping herself from shouting, “The only ones with any reason to suspect it was Sunset were her friends. No one else would have a good reason to believe it was her, as they had no way of knowing where the photos or Applejack’s nickname came from. By yelling at her on the middle of the hall, they not only ended their friendship, but practically announced that they, the first people to give Sunset a chance, was the only one who could’ve done it. They’re the ones who turned the school against Sunset.” Upon hearing this, a very pissed Luna started bringing up student files, grabbing her phone, and growling, “I’m calling all of them in right now! When I get my hands on them-” Luna stopped as Twilight grabbed her arm, shaking her head. Surprised by the sudden action, Celestia asked, “Why shouldn’t we bring them in? After what they did, don’t you want to do something?” With a sigh, Twilight answered, “Oh trust me, I want to tear them apart, but Sunset said she figured out who Anon-A-Miss was and is going to confront them at five. She specifically asked me not to interfere, and if I did, it might break her and push her over the edge. I’m going to go and watch, but unless things get out of hand, I won’t interfere.” Twilight had a point, so Luna offered her a ride and to stay in the car so that none of her friends, though they all hesitated to use that word, would see her. Luna quickly split the relevant scenes from the footage and put them on several USB drives. The four of them left, hoping that things wouldn’t get any worse. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------         Sunset, having spent the last hour and a half finding contacts to help put her plan into motion, approached Sugarcube Corner. Before she reached the windows, she heard a car honk, but ignored it and kept going. After a few more honks, she looked towards the sound, which was coming from across the street from a parked midnight blue Jeep Wrangler. As soon as she looked, the back door popped open and Twilight jumped out, running straight for her, slipping a little on the way. Before Sunset could react, Twilight practically tackled her into a bone crushing hug.         Squeezing Sunset as tightly as she could, Twilight sobbed, “I-I’m so so-sorry Sunset! If I kn-known how bad it was, I-sniff-I would’ve been here earlier!” Sunset gently wrapped her arms around Twilight, rubbing her back and letting her cry it out without saying anything. At some point, Spike came as well, though he didn’t say anything, instead rubbing against Sunset and Twilight, trying to comfort them both.         After a few minutes, Twilight sobbing subsided. With a sigh, Sunset said, “I never blamed you Twilight. I didn’t go into detail because I knew you’d come and try to fix this. Besides, it’s thanks to your message that I was able to figure out the whole story. All I ask is that you please let me handle this.”         Twilight finally let go and stepped back, sniffling a bit. She finally got a good look at Sunset, and had to try her hardest not to flinch at what she saw. Sunset carried herself with a kind of authority and poise she’s only seen when Sunset was singing against the sirens. This time though, while Sunset still had the same determination, her shoulders were almost sagging and she was looking slightly down, as if resigned instead of confident. Her expression, heavy disappointment with an undertone of anger, reminded Twilight too much of Celestia when she accused Cadance at the rehearsal and during her nightmare in the Crystal Empire. “I wasn’t planning on interfering unless things got out of hand, but it seems I’m too late to for that. I trust you Sunset, I’ll wait out here for you. Though if you don’t mind me asking, who is Anon-A-Miss?”         “Thanks Twilight, you don’t know how much this means to me. It’s good to know that my efforts haven’t been in vain. As for who it was, why not just listen in? If you stand just outside the door and Spike props it open, you’ll be able to hear everything without being seen. Just don’t let the door close, since the Cakes had the place soundproofed after Pinkie moved in.”         “Oh, that’s a great idea! I don’t know if I’ll be able to stop myself from doing anything though.”         “Hey, it wouldn’t be fair if you didn’t get a turn after me,” Sunset said with an almost almost predatory smirk, before returning to her previous expression, “It’s not just me they hurt.” Sunset gave Twilight another hug, surprising the girl. She was not expecting Sunset to be the one comforting her. “Just let me finish first. After everything’s said and done, I doubt even Princess Celestia would be able to stop you. By the way, did you bring the bag?”         “Y-yes, I did, it’s back in the car with the principals. They’re very worried about you, and want to talk to you as soon as you’re ready.”         “They were tearing themselves up almost as bad as Twilight after seeing the security footage,” Spike added. “They both feel it’s their fault, even though neither were at the school.”         Sunset nodded, “I was planning on seeing them as soon as I was done here. Anyways are you ready-”         “How are you so calm!” Twilight yelled, “After everything that happened, how are you dealing with it! I watched you get cornered and practically assaulted over ten times, and that’s after you were thrown away by everyone you had in this world!” She was sobbing again, and pulled Sunset into another hug.         “I’m done, Twilight. I’m done holding back. I’m done letting them walk all over me. Both the girls and the rest of the students. After the Fall Formal, I was broken. When I put on the crown, it took everything I believed in and twisted it while tearing me apart. I was stuck watching as a twisted parody of my ambitions tried to take over and almost killed you! Then I was defeated by something I thought was worthless and casually destroyed. Seeing what I could’ve become the way I did … I had to rebuild myself from the ground up, and you gave me a chance. I could redeem myself and maybe one day, I could even become someone worthy of being compared to you.         “The guilt afterwards was stifling. The way the other students treated me didn’t help either, even if I deserved it. I honestly thought about ending it a few times, but that wouldn’t have been fair to you,” she held up a hand at Twilight and Spike’s gasp, “Please, let me finish. Thank you. I kept judging myself entirely on how others viewed me. I thought that obviously I couldn’t judge myself, we saw where that got me after all, but I became too dependent. I was too scared to speak out during the Battle of the Bands. I never spoke out against the insults or them excluding me from the band, or the little fights that kept building up, or when they started yelling at me from stopping Rainbow Dash from revealing our plan, or when no one defended me from the students or Trixie’s accusations. I thought I deserved it all, and since not even my friends saw me as worth considering, why should I?         “Even after we defeated the sirens, they still had trouble accepting me. You practically had to force them to let me in the band, and Rainbow barely even let me play guitar. That was after I stopped them from fighting and risked everything to stop the sirens. I had no clue what the magic would do to me. You remember what happened last time after all. When you offered to teach me, for me to be your student, you don’t know how much that meant to me. The last time you saw me, I was doing everything in my power to defeat you, and almost ended up killing you, yet, the next time you saw me, even though you didn’t trust me at first, you gave me a chance and actually considered me worth something.         “Then after I told Applejack that I don’t have anyone to spend the holidays with, they actually organized a bunch of slumber parties for me! The other students didn’t hate me anymore either, I finally felt like my efforts had made a difference. No one saw me as a monster anymore, I was now truly their friend and your student. I had finally redeemed myself. Then, the second they became suspicious, they tossed me away. They didn’t even give me a chance to speak, and the rest of the student body followed. You’d think they would’ve learned their lesson after learning how easily I tore them apart, but I guess they didn’t.         “Then little things started building up. First it was the girls thinking that I’d make it so obvious it was me. I was never that sloppy before the Fall Formal, except maybe with how I used Snips and Snails. It’s like they never knew me. It didn’t help seeing how easily Anon-A-Miss tore apart the school. Of course it wasn’t hard for me, but I thought that was just because of how bad I was. The worst of it came when I actually looked at Anon-A-Miss’s profile page. The students were loving it. They were laughing at the posts, praising Anon-A-Miss, and asking when the next post was. I started paying attention to what the students were saying when they didn’t know I was there, and everyone who wasn’t affected loved it. You wouldn’t be able to tell when they knew I was there though. They made their hatred clear to me then.         “The final straw that pushed me over, was figuring out who Anon-A-Miss are and why they did it. Even if I’m wrong, it helped me realize everything else. They don’t deserve to judge me. I’m done letting them affect me. I’m done holding back. I’m done not knowing who I am. I’m done not being me.”         Twilight, Sunset having let go of her part way through her speech, took a step back and really looked at Sunset for the first time. She still had the authority and determination, but there was a weariness to it. It was the same oppressive weariness she saw in Celestia and Luna when they let their guard down. There was so much she wanted to say, but now wasn’t the time. All she could say was, “I’m sorry Sunset, I never meant to push you so far. You’ll always have a friends in me, not as a student, but as an equal. If you ever need to talk, I can always listen. I’m ready, go and do what you need to do. I have no doubt you’ll do what’s right.”         Sunset smiled. It was a small, exhausted smile, but genuine. She quickly steeled herself, and walked towards the entrance. Twilight thought that her shoulders weren’t sagging as much. Spike ran past the door, almost slipping on a patch of ice, ready to keep it slightly open. Twilight stood next to him, making sure she couldn’t be seen through the windows. Sunset took a deep breath and walked in.         Inside, it was surprisingly empty given the time. The only people there were the girls sitting at one table, all slouched over, and Scootaloo, Apple Bloom, and Sweetie Belle sitting at another table, quietly whispering something and looking extremely anxious. Mr. and Mrs. Cake weren’t in front, which suited Sunset perfectly.         When she entered, the bell rang and everyone looked towards her. Their initial surprise was quickly replaced with anger, as Rainbow Dash stood up and yelled, “Hey! Get out!”         Applejack then followed, “Yer not welc-”         “Shut up!” Sunset commanded, stunning the group. Rainbow tried to say something, but was stopped by a glare from Sunset. They had never seen her like this, even when she was at her worst. Her presence completely overshadowed them; they weren’t dealing with a high school bully or their friend, no, they were peasants dealing with an empress.         Seeing them sufficiently cowed, Sunset continued, “I figured out who Anon-A-Miss are, and more importantly why they did it.” The girls all flinched back, Fluttershy barely staying conscious. “Of course, I’m surprised you even fell for such a poor frame job. If it was the old me, I would have framed one of you, but then you should already know that, considering how easy it was before.” Sunset took a step forward, Rainbow and Applejack both tried taking a step back, but bumped into the seats. Fluttershy was trying to cower under the table while Rarity and Pinkie hugged each other, shaking.         “Then again, you girls tore yourselves apart so well when the sirens were here, I shouldn’t have been surprised how easy it was for Anon-A-Miss to do this,” Sunset said with a bitter chuckle. “At least this time you lasted two messages.” She shook her head with a grim smile, taking another step.         She has to be lying! Who else could’ve gotten the photos, Rainbow thought as she began to sweat. She’s just trying to intimi-         “It was us!” the three girls on the other table yelled. Apple Bloom and Scootaloo were both trembling, while Sweetie Belle was crying.         Scootaloo tried to get up, but Apple Bloom put her hand on Scootaloo’s shoulder and shook her hand, then stood up and said, “We’re so sorry Sunset! We didn’t know it would get this bad for you! We just wanted to get you away from our sisters! We didn’t know you were getting ganged up on! We thought the other students liked Anon-A-Miss.”         “It was you?!” Applejack yelled.         “How could you?!” Rainbow followed.         “Wait that means ...” Rarity began, looking towards Sunset, who was glaring towards them with her arms crossed.         “It wasn’t you,” Fluttershy finished as the rest of them turned towards Sunset.         “B-but how?” Pinkie asked, her hair flat.         “Easy,” Sunset said, “Apple Bloom knew Applejack’s nickname, Sweetie Belle could’ve easily taken my phone while I was asleep, and Scootaloo had plenty of chances to snap a photo of Rainbow Dash’s paper. They probably already had some stuff from before as well and I wouldn’t be surprised if the other students started sending them requests.”         “How’d ya figure it out?” Apple Bloom asked in shock.         “It was simple once I took your sisters off their pedestals,” Sunset answered. “I didn’t want to consider them or anyone related to them, but as soon as I did, it was obvious. You three had the means and a motive.” When she finished, Scootaloo paled, but none of the older girls except Sunset noticed.         “Why?” Rarity barely choked out.         “We were jealous of all the time Sunset was spending with you,” Sweetie Belle admitted, “It’s the holiday season and you kept shunning us for her! We thought it wasn’t fair, but seeing how she was treated, it was horrible! Can you ever forgive us Sunset?” Sweetie Belle looked ready to burst out in tears.         All attention was on Sunset, who just shrugged, “Sure, under two conditions,” surprising everyone in the room with how casually she said it.         “Wha-what are they?” Apple Bloom squeaked out, terrified.         “Wait, don’t you think that’s unfair?! We didn’t give you any conditions after the Fall ... Formal …” Rainbow trailed off when Sunset focused on her. Sunset uncrossed her arms and gave Rainbow a dark, almost sinister smile. She took another step, standing slightly taller, looking down at Rainbow. It was at this point, Rainbow realized she royally screwed up.         “There’s a small difference here. I’m actually planning on forgiving them,” Sunset said. Rainbow felt as though she was staring at a giant phoenix, who was just playing with her prey.         Another step, Sunset was in arm's reach. “But the five of you don’t know anything about that, now do you? You need someone to tell you to forgive, and if they’re not watching, you’ll completely forget about it. You never really forgave me!” Sunset snarled.         She took one last step forward, her face a foot from Rainbow’s staring her down, “Then again, I’m not surprised. You five are so self-centered, you can’t seem to see past your own ego.” Rainbow Dash was unable to hold her gaze and looked away in shame.         Sunset stepped back and took a deep breath. “Now then, back to business!” she said in a faux jovial tone and looked towards the three younger girls, all of whom tried to shrink away as much as possible. “Let’s get the obvious condition out of the way first. You three will confess to the principals and publicly to the school. It has to be in person, it can’t be through the account.”         Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo looked towards each other and nodded. Apple Bloom spoke up, “We were gonna do that anyways. We came here to tell our sisters first, but we couldn’t work up the courage.”         “Good, and the second condition,” Sunset walked up to their table, with an aura of authority like they’ve never seen, leaned forward and ordered, “I. Want. The. Full. Truth.”         Time slowed down for Scootaloo. Her friends were both squirming, looking at each other, obviously terrified, but not saying anything. She heard one of the older girls trying say something, but was cut off by Sunset, who then returned to staring them down. Still, neither of her friends said anything, and it warmed her heart, but Sunset never had that kind of support, Scootaloo realized. It wasn’t fair to Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle to make them keep her secret now, and it wasn’t fair to Sunset to not let her know why they did this.         Scootaloo took a deep breath and looked to both of her friends. “It’s okay, you don’t have to keep it secret anymore,” she said, speaking for the first time, with weight surprising all the older girls except Sunset.         “But what about-”         “No, Sweetie, I can’t keep hiding it, especially now.” Scootaloo turned to face Sunset, “They weren’t lying when they said it was because their sisters and Rainbow Dash were spending so much time with you, but they left out why. It’s because, well, I’m homeless.” Upon hearing this all the girls at the other table all jumped up.         “Ya mean you were alone-”         “You poor dear-”         “Oh no are you healthy-”         “And you always smiled-”         “Scoots, why didn’t you tell me?” Rainbows question cut through the other girls panic.         After a few seconds, Scootaloo answered, “I can’t let anyone know. There aren’t any orphanages or foster homes nearby, so I’d be taken away if anyone found out. I can’t lose Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom! They’re the only family I have left!” She was almost in tears at this point, but looked at Sunset. “You don’t seem surprised.”         Sunset shrugged, “I figured it out two hours ago. I’m curious, where do you normally stay?” she asked, in such a casual tone it took everyone a few seconds to recover.         “At Apple Bloom’s club house. It’s pretty warm, with lot’s of hidden places to put my stuff. Apple Bloom sneaks me food all the time, and Sweetie brings me extra fabric.”         Sunset let out a low whistle, “Not too shabby. Personally, I use the school now. There’s always running water and showers and it’s warm. The teacher’s lounge is great when they don’t lock it, and if they do, the library’s not a bad option for sleep.”         It took almost a minute for what Sunset said to click. Before anyone could say anything, the bell rang, drawing everyone’s attention to the newcomers. Twilight and Spike, having stumbled through the door, stared at Sunset with open mouthed shock. “Twilight!” Pinkie jumped up and yelled.         Twilight and Spike slowly turned their gazes towards the table. Spike let out a deep growl no dog should be able to make, flames licking the edges of his snout. Twilight, with complete disdain, glared at them. “Girls, we need to talk.”