Sunset finished her story and looked to see five sympathetic faces staring back at her. The worst case was Pinkie who was struggling to contain her tears when she rushed up to Sunset and gave her a hug so forceful it lifted her out of her seat.
"Oh your poor things! You've been through so much together and to suddenly lose the best friend you ever had!" Pinkie sniffed, hugging Sunset even tighter and making it hard to breath. Thankfully Applejack came to her rescue.
"Alright alright. It's sad, but popping Sunset like a grape ain't gonna make things right." Pinkie realized what AJ meant and set Sunset back down, sniffling a quick 'sorry'.
"Thanks Pinkie, but it still doesn't change the fact that I drove everyone I cared about away while in my stupid quest for power." Sunset looked down at the table, wishing with all her might that she could change what she had done. She wanted to go back in time and tell younger Twilight that she was sorry and encourage her not to give up on friendship. Her brooding was interrupted when Rarity placed a comforting hand on her shoulder.
"Darling we've all done things we're not proud of, and while you may have played a hand in it, we all ended up ruining our friendships ourselves." She looked to the others and they all nodded guiltily in agreement. "But while we can't change what happened in the past, what matters is that we strive to fix our mistakes and become better people out of it, just like your doing." Rarity gave a soft smile and squeezed Sunset's shoulder comfortingly, causing Sunset to smile back at her.
"Thanks Rarity, and to all of you for giving me the chance to make up for everything I've done." Fluttershy came up and gave Sunset a comforting hug, which she quickly returned. After that her smile quickly faded.
"I just hope Twilight will be able to forgive me one day..."
"I think she already has."
Sunset to where Fluttershy was gesturing and saw Twilight running up to them with Spike on her heals.
"Sorry I'm late girls! I got caught up finishing a project that took longer than I thought it would. So anyway, what did I miss?" Twilight asked eagerly. Sunset then answered with a smile on her face.
"Nothing at all."
"Good! Now can we eat? I'm starving and the food smells great!" Spike popped in, sniffing and wagging his tail in excitement. Twilight and the girls just giggled and set down to a wonderful picnic, with hopes that there would many more of these to come.