Ashes to Inferno

by Sun Aura


Forgiveness

                Detention was different every day. Tuesday, she helped Mr. Birch prepare his lab for the next day. Wednesday was with Cheerilee in the Library again. Thursday was quite interesting. Prop making with Discord.

                In between said detentions, class was normal. One of the girls was by her side constantly, and thankfully no one said anything that wasn’t immediately met with five glares. She would go home, take care of Rhea, and talk to the girls online.

                Nightmares were still happening, but thanks to Rhea they weren’t enough to send Sunset into a full panic attack. She’d wake up scared but aware. Sometimes she’d cry, but Rhea was there to lick her face and make sure she was okay. Rhea got extra pets for that.

                It was after her detention on Thursday that she was met with a change. Rarity had waited for her to get out before dragging her to her boutique. The place was big and quite fancy. It sort of reminded her of Canterlot, Equestria’s Canterlot.

                “Stand up there, would you dear?” Rarity asked, gesturing to a small platform surrounded by mirrors. “And take your jacket off as well.”

                “Why?” Sunset wondered, doing as she was told.

                “I still owe you a top for the other day,” Rarity answered, digging through supplies and grabbing a pair of glasses.

                “I told you,” she sighed. “You don’t have to-“

                “Yes yes,” she rolled her eyes. “However, I want to. While Pinkie will show her affection with parties and hugs, I am more partial to gifts. I sort of wish we were friends sooner, because then I could have made you a dress for the Formal as well, but I guess we will have to wait for the Spring Fling.”

                “Yeah, I-“ she stopped and stared at her. “What do you mean ‘made me a dress as well’?”

                “Oh, well I might have made all of our dresses,” she admitted, fussing with the measuring tape. “Twilight’s was a bit more difficult as it was last minute but-“

                “Hold up,” she interrupted. “You mean to tell me you made six dresses in one night?”

                “Oh, no,” she laughed, taking the measuring tape down Sunset’s arm. “I’ve been working on quite a few designs for them over the summer. I am only one girl after all. Hm. Twilight said my Counterpart in her world was a Unicorn, do you think she can conjure a dress with a spell?”

                “You can’t conjure something out of nothing,” she said. “Even if she could, it would waste so much energy. It would probably be easier to just use telekinesis to give herself an extra set of hands, er, hooves, and work on multiple outfits at once. At that point, it’s just a matter of Magical Ability and how much she can divide her attention between projects.”

                “That’s almost better,” she laughed. “While I would love to have a dress in an instant, I do have fun actually working on them.”

                “So it took you a while to make the dresses,” she mused. “But… I made you hate the others. You were all fighting and stopped talking. Why would you make dresses for people you hate?”

                Rarity only smiled, writing on a small notepad. Taking the measuring tape once more, she wrapped it around Sunset’s waist. Once she wrote that number down, she poked her side. Sunset jumped, nearly falling over at the surprise.

                “Sorry,” Rarity laughed. “But to answer your question, I did it because they’re my friends.”

                “That- that doesn’t make sense,” Sunset frowned. “They weren’t your friends then. I broke you up, and it was only the day before that you managed to get back together. Why would you spend all that time on people you didn’t even want to talk to?”

                “The same reason you’re here now,” she answered. “Forgiveness. For example, let’s say it really was Pinkie sending those unappreciative emails. If she had come up to me and apologized, then worked to fix her mistakes, I would have forgiven her.”

                “You would?” she wondered. “But why?”

                “I already told you,” she said. “Friendship. Pinkie, and the others, are my friends. And sometimes friends will do stupid things, sometimes they end up hurting one another. Accidently, of course, but it still hurts when it happens. But part of Friendship is caring that you hurt them, and making up for it. Giving second chances.

                “And the thing about forgiving friends,” she continued, “Is that it’s quite easy. You know them, you have a history with them. You know that they will make up for it. I expected us all to make up, because we’ve had fights before. While this lasted much longer than other fights, I kept making outfits and offering to be there for them because as upset as we were, we still cared about one another.”

                “And what about people who aren’t your friends?” Sunset asked.

                “It’s a little harder,” Rarity said. “It takes a bit longer. But in the end, there’s a new friend waiting.”

                “I guess,” she nodded. “I’m… I’m sort of glad that you didn’t fully hate them because of me. I’m not sure if I feel better about it, but I’m still glad.”

                “As am I,” she smiled. “So, speaking of friends being mad at one another, you were once part of Flash Sentry’s group, and I hear two have come around. It’s a bit of the same there. They knew you, so they can forgive easier.”

                “Brawly and Thunder have,” she nodded. “But Flash is still….. I don’t know how to deal with that, you know? He’s the one person in this world who knew the most about me, but even then, I kept so much. Even though it was the whole ‘I’m a Unicorn from another Dimension and if I said that you’ll think I’m crazy’ thing, I felt bad about it.”

                “I think he can understand that part,” she chuckled. “But I do have to ask, you mentioned trying to set him up with someone else while you were with him. Can I take it as your relationship wasn't quite as romantic as you let on?"

                “Yeah,” she said. “That’s a long story on the how and exactly why, but basically it was a social boost. I wanted people to like me, and having him as a boyfriend made me more likable.”

                “So, was there anything more after it?” she wondered. “And, sorry to bring it up, but I have to ask how you felt about his thing for Twilight. Curiosity killed the cat and all that.”

                “Satisfaction brought it back,” she mumbled. “I can admit to some jealousy, because I did care about him, and it hurt to see Twilight win him over so quickly. But it was never romantic. He’s not really my type.”

                “And what exactly is your ‘type’?” she asked.

                “Take a guess,” she rolled her eyes. “Let’s start with the fact that you fit into the category.”

                “Ah,” she laughed. “Well, if you want to keep that bit a secret from others, I’ll be happy to fake my own obliviousness.”

                “Probably better,” she mused. “Don’t want people to have more to use against me.”

                “Not quite what I meant,” she said. “The girls would be okay with it. Though, I won’t deny it’s a smart idea with other students. Now, pink or blue?”

                “What?” she tilted her head.

                Instead of answering, Rarity set down the measuring tape and grabbed a few pieces of fabric. She held up several near Sunset’s face, looking at each with concentration. A few got a hum, others got a head tilt, and a couple got a disgusted face and were tossed to the ground.

                “Blues seems to be better,” Rarity mused, talking more to herself. “The contrast with your hair and skin but matching your eyes. But some pinks can look great with you. Hm…. I think I’ll go with the pink for this one. We have a few too many blues already.”

                “This one?” Sunset asked.

                “For the first outfit I’m making you,” she said. “Before you protest, I’m not making you a full wardrobe at once. But hopefully we’ll be friends for quite a while, which means I’m going to end up making several outfits for you over time.”

                “Several?” she wondered

“Hm, in just the forseeable future,” she began, “there’s this dress, something for Christmas, probably the Spring Fling, and Halloween is coming up soon as well, so you might want to think about costumes. And who knows what other events could pop up over the year?”

Sunset tried to wrap her head around that idea. She wondered how Rarity managed that. After all, several outfits a year for each of her close friends, on top of school and the outfits she makes on commission, and she still manages to do well on her homework and hang out with her friends for extended periods of time. Did she ever sleep or was her blood replaced with espresso?

But above all, it was the why that she tried to understand. Because, even if they were friends, why would one spend all the time, money, and energy on this? Sure, it’s ‘nice’, but you can be nice in much easier ways.

The answer came rather quickly. She had barely complimented the sketch Rarity had shown her, just smiled and said it looked good. Yet the way her face lit up, not because Sunset loved ‘her work’, but because she would love her gift.

It reminded her of Hearth’s Warming. How you are more excited to see others open their presents than you are to open your own. Because you love the way they light up when they see what you got, whether it be a simple kid’s art project or that expensive item that was a good few months of allowance. And somehow, it made such a lack of time management make so much sense.