//------------------------------// // The Truth in your Eyes // Story: Myriad Thoughts // by Tale Swapper //------------------------------// Applejack sat down heavily at her desk. Class was winding down for the day, and she was glad of it. The day had been emotionally draining, and she was looking forward to heading home. Pulling her hat down over her head, she allowed the thoughts that had been stewing through her mind to come to the surface. Sunset, you bitch. How could you do this to us? We were your friends! After the chance we gave you, why would you throw it away? Applejack pulled out her phone. She knew Rainbow might enjoy yelling at Sunset through her device, but all she wanted to do was cut Sunset out. As she scrolled pas the Anon-A-Miss page, her anger grew. She was done with Sunset. Done with backstabbing, jerks. She switched over to her contacts page. Done with the lies, done with.... She froze. Above the name she'd set out to delete, and erase from her life forever, was another name. Rainbow's contact name, placed just above Sunset's stared back at her. Unbidden, her mind traced parallels between this moment and a similar moment a year earlier. She'd been in this room, in fact, when she'd received the first text messages. Messages from Rainbow Dash, insults and slurs which angered her to the point of rage, and drove her to cut Rainbow out of her life. The messages hadn't been from Rainbow, though- Sunset had sent them, after hacking Rainbow's phone. Deleting Rainbow's name from her phone had been the last thing she'd done before cutting ties off completely, a decision that kept her apart from her friends for a whole year before the arrival of Twilight Sparkle. She'd realized her mistake then, and since then, had found the friend she was certain she'd lost forever. She'd missed Rainbow Dash, even when she'd thought the girl had decided to be spiteful, but she'd buried it. And I regretted it, didn't I? If we'd talked, if we'd shared notes, if I'd listened when she said she didn't do it... Applejack looked down at her phone again, then narrowed her gaze. The question she'd thought back in her head resounded again, this time without the scathing note. Why would she throw it away? The parallels seemed obvious, but certainly only Sunset could have know what went up on the Anon-A-Miss page. You were certain about Rainbow too. And Rarity, and Pinkie Pie... Sunset got nothing out of doing this, and risked losing everything. She was about to lose her friends, lose her family. Why would she do this? What if she didn't? Sunset staggered out through the school doors, her head hung low. All day she'd endured the spite of the other students. Traitor. Demon-bitch. The old Sunset's finally back. She closed her eyes. She couldn't take it anymore. I t might have only been fifth period, but she was leaving. If she left during the rush, when every student would be able to follow her... She shuddered. "Sunset!" Sunset froze. Someone was calling her name, and she recognized that voice. Fear blossomed in her chest, and she move a little quicker, feet digging through the snow. "Sunset, please!" Applejack's voice cut into Sunset's ears, and she stopped. Almost against her will, she croaked "What do you want?" "Sunset I, I need to..." She heard a boot stomp the ground behind her. "Dammit, Sunset, look at me!" Hesitantly, Sunset swung her head around. Applejack stood, back straight, arms crossed over her chest. Just like before, she looked like she was going to hand down a summary punishment, a casting out. But her eyes were different. Instead of anger, a note of something else changed the contours of her face. She looked... hesitant. Applejack spoke softly. "Sunset... please. Are you really Anon-a-miss?" Sunset hung her head. She spoke softly "No. Please you have to believe me, I'm not..." She expected more yelling, condemnations. Instead, she heard a half-choked sob. Looking up, Sunset caught Applejack gripping her forehead with one hand, her entire demeanor changed. Shoulders tucked in , free arm clutching herself, hat covering her eyes. Applejack looked up. "Sunset... Ah'm sorry. I... Ah nearly made..." She flinched and said. "No, Ah made the same mistake I did last year." She looked down at her boots. "Can we talk? Ah know you don't wanna go back to school, but my van's right over there. I... need to apologize. And we gotta talk about what's gonna come next." Applejack leaned forward in the driver's seat. She pressed her head into the top of the steering wheel, as Sunset watched silently from the passenger seat. "Last fall," Applejack began "I got a few texts from Rainbow Dash. Spiteful little things. It's what drove us apart." Sunset choked out a response. "I'm sorry I did that." She sniffed. Her composure had shattered with Applejack's declaration, and she was crying a little every time she spoke. "Yeah, I shoulda remembered that. Both that you were sorry, that you'd confessed everything- and the texts themselves." Sunset looked at Applejack questioningly. "What I was going to do to ya- was exactly what I'd done to Rainbow. Get mad, cut off talking, and erase your name from my phone. Exactly the same." Applejack leaned back, and glanced down at her hands. "When I was about to, I remembered how mad I was at myself after Ah found out the truth. I hadn't talked to my best friend for a year because of some lies. And if we'd actually talked..." She shook her head. "Maybe I wouldn't have spent a year alone." "And then Ah thought why you would do it. What I never bothered to think about Rainbow. Why you'd throw us away. There ain't no reason. And I did the same to you what I promised I never would; I threw away family." She sobbed. "Ah needed to know. And as soon as I wasn't angry, as soon as I had time to think... Ah realized how stupid ah was being." She looked up at Sunset. Tears pooled in the corners of green eyes, matching similar tears in teal eyes staring back. "Ah made myself a liar. I promised you were family- and then hung you out to dry. All I needed to see the truth was hear you say it. Sunset- ah don't know for certain if you are Anon-A-Miss- but I wouldn't turn on a real family member, even with proof- and I don't have none." She paused. "I need to make this right. Please, Sunset- can you forgive me?"