"Oh, come on!" Sunset threw her hands up and fell back into her seat. "He betrayed her because he wanted the amulet? That doesn't make any sense!"
Rainbow Dash took a moment to cease shoveling popcorn into her mouth and glanced at her friend in confusion. "Huh? What do you mean?"
"Um... the movie is still playing..."
"I mean if that was the reason, why didn't he just shoot her in the first five minutes of the story? He had her all alone with the amulet in the middle of the wilderness. He would have gotten the amulet without having to put forth this crazy scheme that ended up failing miserably!"
Rarity scoffed. "Did you not watch the subsequent 50 minutes? If he shot her it would have ruined the romantic subplot."
"You mean the subplot that his sudden betrayal just revealed to be a complete lie? That was the entire point!"
"Shh!" Applejack shot a glare toward the noisy half of the room. "Fluttershy is right; the movie is still playing, y'all."
Pinkie Pie giggled, making use of the distraction to steal more of Dash's popcorn. "Maybe, but there's pretty much nothing important left anyway."
"I still think that apparently the last 50 minutes were unimportant, too." Sunset grumbled and crossed her arms. "They could at least try to make the villain seem intelligent. If they can be outsmarted by preschoolers they aren't much of a threat."
Pinkie suddenly perked up "Oh! That reminds me. SUNSET!"
"WHAT?!" Sunset jumped and leaned away from the suddenly hyper girl filling her vision. She cleared her throat, fighting the blush threatening to overtake her face. "Uh, I mean... what, Pinkie?" She ignored the snickering coming from her rainbow-haired comrade.
"So, don't take this the wrong way, because I'm really glad we ended up becoming friends, buuuuuut..." Pinkie paused for a moment.
"But?"
"Why were you trying to win the Fall Formal, anyway?" There was a brief silence. Well, there was a brief silence save for whatever song was being played over the credits. It only took Fluttershy a moment to find the remote and correct that.
"Ah..."
Applejack cocked her head. "Why? I mean, wasn't it to steal Twilight's crown and take over the school? Uh, no offense."
"Oh, uh... none taken?"
Rarity chimed in next. "I believe she said she was actually going to take over Equestria."
"Yeah, come on Pinks, you were there for it, remember?" Rainbow chuckled as she bounced a popcorn kernel off Pinkie's hair like a springboard.
"Exactly!" Pinkie pointed dramatically to Rarity. "See, at the time, we all thought it was a regular popularity contest, right? We figured Sunset just wanted to win so she could be the Princess of the Fall Formal, so of course she would want to win. But she didn't actually want to win the vote, she wanted the crown so she could use its magic and go back through the portal, right?"
Sunset groaned. Hadn't they already been through this? Did they really need to dredge up her misdeeds again. Not for the first time since that night, she was starting to question the merits of friendship.
Applejack seemed to pick up on her discomfort. "Is there a point to this, Pinkie?"
"Well, if she just needed the crown and didn't really care about the contest, why didn't she just steal it and then go back through the portal right from the start? I mean, she's pretty smart, so I figured she would have thought of that."
There was a moment's silence.
"Oh."
"Now that you mention it..."
"Huh."
"Hey, yeah!"
Dash set her popcorn down and turned her full attention to Sunset. "What's up with that?"
Sunset sunk further into her seat. So, it wasn't just a guilt session, it was an embarrassment session too. Joy. "Ugh... okay, like..." She rubbed her face with her hands. "I know how this is probably gonna sound, but it was sort of about the principle of it. Hurting Twilight directly or stealing the crown from Celestia's office seemed... I dunno, boorish."
As expected, she was met with incredulous stares.
Applejack raised her dreaded eyebrow. "You do remember ripping the crown from Twilight's hands, right? And, uh, shooting a fireball at her right after?"
"Do I remember the actions I took during the painful culmination of all of my life's mistakes? No, I must have forgotten, thanks so much for the reminder." Applejack's face darkened.
"Now, now!" Rarity put a hand on both of their shoulders. "We aren't trying to attack each other here. The purpose of this movie night is not to make Sunset feel bad. Quite the opposite, in fact." She flashed a small grin at the girl in question. "However, I must admit some curiosity as well. I don't want this to be an interrogation, but I don't believe we ever heard the details from your side of things."
Sunset took a deep breath, trying to calm down. Having friends was still new to her, and she didn't want her temper ruining her one chance at happiness. "Okay. Sorry, Applejack." Her friend nodded and gave an apologetic smile. "So, I guess I can explain a bit."
She tilted her head back, staring at the ceiling. "So, when Twilight first came here, I already knew how to get the crown. I was actually planning to steal it that day. For all I knew, Princess Celestia was moments way from coming after me." She chuckled darkly. "I... guess that was wishful thinking, huh? A-anyway, I wanted to be cautious about it. Ideally I would be in another world before anyone even noticed it was gone, but better safe than sorry, right?"
She glanced guiltily at Fluttershy. "I... had to make sure..." She shook her head. "I chose to intimidate you since you would have had reason to suspect me, after I talked to you about the crown. I'm sorry."
Fluttershy gave her a small smile. "I forgive you, remember?"
Sunset swallowed thickly. "R-right. Afterward I played up my role as soon-to-be-winner. Who would suspect the surefire winner of stealing the crown, right? But then I found out Twilight was running against me. Celestia's newest student, the bearer of the Element of magic and Equestria's freshest alicorn. My replacement." She tried to keep the bitterness out of her voice. She really did.
Rainbow seemed to ponder for a moment. "So, what, it was some kind of pride thing?"
"More or less. I wanted to prove that I was better than her. That I deserved the crown that I felt she had stolen from me. I wanted to be a powerful alicorn princess just like Celestia. If I, a mere mortal, not even a pony any more, could beat an alicorn, surely that meant I was worthy, right?"
Sunset let out a sigh. "I guess you could say I didn't fight fair, but I... I didn't want to just attack her, or steal the crown and run. I wanted her to realize that I was better than her, that I could win without lifting a hoof to her. When it didn't work, when I lost, I kind of just snapped and decided to take the crown by force, anyway."
Sunset shivered. "As for the, ah, fireball, well... I don't really want to say it wasn't my fault or anything, but I really wasn't thinking straight. Being overwhelmed by magic like that... it feels so amazing in the moment, but it's really horrifying in retrospect."
She looked around to see sympathetic expressions on her friends' faces. Part of her was disgusted, the part that felt showing weakness would only cause problems. The rest of her was thankful for all they were doing for her.
"Sorry, I kind of brought down the mood, huh?"
Rarity tittered. "Oh, think nothing of it, darling. We did ask, after all."
Pinkie and Rainbow spoke for a moment in hushed tones before Pinkie locked eyes with Sunset. "What about the zombies, though?"
Sunset blinked. "Huh?"
Rainbow's face lit up as she caught on. "Oh, yeah! That's weird too, isn't it?"
"What in the world are you talking about?"
Rainbow squared herself and clasped her hands under her chin. "You said your Princess Celestia is really powerful, right? She's an alicorn or whatever?"
Sunset blinked. "Yeah..."
"Is she, like, martial artist level strong, or super-hero level strong?"
"Uh... I would say demi-god level strong?" She was met with blank stares. "I mean, she raises and lowers the Sun daily in our world, literally. I've only heard of two beings capable of overpowering her, from my reading. One was the literal personification of chaos, practically a god in his own right, and the other was her sister."
Rainbow grinned. "So to summarize, your Princess Celestia could beat up an invading army all on her own?"
"Well, yeah I suppose..."
"Then what was up with the mind-controlled zombie teenager army?"
"..."
Pinkie Pie nodded fervently "Yeah, what she said!"
"Seems kinda silly to expect a handful of teenagers to take over a country with someone like her in charge, right?"
Sunset's face paled. "Ah! Heheheh, yeah, I guess that was really stupid, huh? Oh well, good thing I didn't end up facing that embarrassment, right? Phew!"
Rarity narrowed her eyes. "Sunset, forgive me for saying, but that was... rather unconvincing. If you don't want to talk about it any further, we understand, but please know that we are here for you. Is there something the matter?"
Sunset's eyes darted between the concerned faces of her friends. "W-well... I guess it's only fair. I shouldn't be running from my judgement." She clasped her hands in front of herself.
"We aren't here to 'judge' you, dear."
"Yeah, well I won't blame you if you do. So... part of it was to lord my power over the school. Big surprise, right? Really, I didn't make the zombie army because I thought it would take over Equestria. In the mindset I was in, I expected that I might fight with Celestia, but that was it. It was a personal thing between me and her. The Element of Magic would give me enough power to deal with her if she held back. I don't know, maybe I hoped she would be impressed enough by my power to put me in charge willingly. I wasn't thinking logically about it."
"And the other part of it?"
Sunset flinched. "Nothing gets by you, huh Rarity? I... well, the plan was to... use them as... living shields." Fluttershy gasped. "I know that sounds horrible, but I couldn't imagine Celestia cutting loose if there were innocent kids in the vicinity, even if they were from another world. She wouldn't want to hurt them, which is what I meant about her holding back in that case. It would keep her from vaporizing me instantly."
She gulped. Might as well go all the way. "And... even if she did it anyway, I'd die knowing I was right. Our deaths would be my vindication."
She glanced at her friends faces, noting the horror as expected, but also surprised to see some confusion as well.
Rarity leaned forward and put a hand on her shoulder. "Vindication, dear? I'm not quite sure I understand what you mean."
Sunset sighed and looked down at her clasped hands. "One of the reasons that I had my... falling out with Princess Celestia was because I felt she was too soft sometimes, especially on her enemies. I was worried that she didn't necessarily have the... determination to do what was necessary in a bad situation. I guess that's part of why I wanted to be a Princess; to help her do what was needed."
She fidgeted with her hands, still refusing to meet Rarity's gaze. "Whatever part of me that was still sane during that whole she-demon thing must have recognized what I was doing was evil on some level. If Celestia really would blow away a bunch of mind-controlled children to stop me, then it would prove that I was right about her needing to... put her hoof down, so to speak."
"Huh?" She risked a glance upward to see Rainbow staring at her. At least she isn't glaring. "Wouldn't that prove you wrong instead? I mean, that she was stronger than you thought?"
Sunset gave a shaky laugh as she ran a hand through her hair. "I guess I would have just been happy to know that she was... still perfect. That she did actually know what she was doing, and that I wasn't wrong for thinking 'drastic measures' were sometimes justified." She winced at the still worried expressions on her friends' faces. "N-not that I still think that way! I understand now that her doing something like that would have been far from perfect!" She sighed. "Or at least, I think so. Honestly, I'm still trying to figure things out. It... means so much to me that you five are actually willing to try and help me understand."
She struggled to maintain eye contact with each of them in turn as she spoke. They deserve to know who they are trying to help. Don't you dare start crying! "Please, I know I was awful. I'm not sure I can do this without you all. I understand if you hate me for this, but..." Beg if you have to! "Please don't leave me."
She was surprised to feel a hand on her other shoulder. She turned to see Fluttershy smiling at her. She felt a reaffirming squeeze from Rarity's hand as well. Rainbow shared a look with Applejack before sending Sunset a thumbs-up.
Applejack cleared her throat. "I'll admit, that was a bit unsettling to learn. But thanks for being willing to share it with us. Honestly, I'm glad that your feeling comfortable enough with us to open up some, even about your past like that. As long as you stay sincere about improving, I don't think there's a problem. You've already apologized for that night, after all."
Sunset felt her eyes being to water. Please, for the love of Celestia, do not cry. "Thank you all-" She was interrupted by Pinkie Pie somehow sliding right into her lap. How had she managed to do that without her noticing? "Ack! P-Pinkie!"
Pinkie wrapped her arms around Sunset and shook both of them back and forth, tears in her eyes. "They grow up s-sooo faa-aaast!"
Sunset pushed down her embarrassment and chuckled. "Okay, okay. Really, though: thanks guys."
Fluttershy patted her shoulder and made her way over to the dvd player. "It's fine. We can go back to complaining about movies if you want. You might like this next one though. It's about a man who's cursed to look like a monster but is rescued by the power of love."
Sunset smiled. Friendship really was something, wasn't it? "Let's do it."