“You don't understand the stress I was under. You don't know what it's like to have to banish your own sister and just hope that you didn't kill her.” Princess Celestia suddenly said as a silence fell over the office where Princess Luna had practically exiled the pair until they could get it together.
“maybe not but that is no excuse, just like Sunset has no excuse for acting like some kind of dictator either. You chose to push her away, just like I chose to ignore my sister and friends all those years ago when they tried to point out what should have been obvious. It literally took losing everything for me to realize that I couldn't just let what other people wanted me to do control me...That my feelings mattered as well.”
A silence fell over them so thick that one could cut it with a knife as both mulled over what had just been said.
“What exactly happened after the dance? I recall that Sunset Shimmer did not usually trust easily...yet she seems to trust you and your sister.” the sun princess asked after a few minutes, earning a sigh from her human counterpart.
“She was an emotional wreck after the dance, although she did her best when she and her two accomplices were tasked with cleaning up some of the mess they had made. Even though Sunset was in pain, she didn't let anyone know about it. Not until Luna and another student noticed the blood.” Principal Celestia said, sighing as she closed her eyes as she remembered how difficult those injuries were to treat since the girl had insisted she didn't need help.
“The elements injured her?” The princess's voice said, obviously distressed.
“Sunset doesn't believe it was the elements but the transformation...that some lingering magic kept her from healing since if it was the blast itself it would have caused even more damage than just some scrapes. You see when she used the...crown...She turned into something...different.”
Princess Celestia remained silent as the principal continued, closing her eyes as she tried not to imagine the filly that she had practically raised being put through that much pain.
“how is she now? Did it leave any lasting effects?” she had to ask, although she was afraid to know the answer.
“The only lasting effects besides being sore for a while and the massive attitude change was that it left her vulnerable. She told us that the blast basically forced her to feel everything that she had been trying not to feel and it left her a shell of her former self.” the principal answered, finding no reason to lie to the former alicorn that was seated in front of her.
“Why did you choose to take her in? After what happened I know that some people would disagree with your decision?”
Principal Celestia closed her eyes as she thought about how to answer that
“I couldn't have forgiven myself if I had just let her deal with that alone. She was completely alone in this world with no one to help her when she needed it. There was no guarantee that Twilight's friends would accept her and she needed someone who could help her if needed. I had no plans on adopting her but that choice wasn't left up to me.” she finally replied.
“But you did, obviously since she called you Mom.” the Princess pointed out, earning a ghost of a smile.
“I did. First, it was just for legal reasons even though I did grow to care for her rather quickly. I didn't want to pressure her. I don't think either of us noticed that the feeling was mutual.” the principal's response caused Princess Celestia to sigh.
“I know I have been horrible to the girl...although at the time I didn't realize just how much I was hurting her. I am glad that she has someone like you in her life. The girl deserves a lot better than either her adoptive parents or I had ever given her.”
“It's easy to tell yourself that something you are doing isn't that bad or even 'for the best' without thinking about the consequences. I should know, I did the same thing to my sister that you did with Sunset...and you said that I didn't know how it felt to banish my sister? You don't know how it feels to wake up after being in an induced coma for a week only to find that you're the reason your sister was kicked out of the house. Luna didn't even speak to me until I ended up in the hospital again, this time because of Sombra.”
“Hold up Principal Luna! I did not hire anyone to hurt her! I mean, sure we all came up with the idea for Anon-a-miss as a way to get back on her but it spiraled out of control! We meant to show her how it felt when she was causing everyone to hate each other, not have her almost killed!” Crimson Napalm stated
“Then why didn't one of you shut the site down when things started going south? Do you know how many people die over stupid stunts such as this?” Luna demanded, earning a sigh from Duke.
“We tried! But someone got hold of the password.” another boy, Duke stated.
Chrysalis had been standing at the back of the room with a hand on Sunset's shoulder to keep her quiet. How pathetic, not only was this big of a mess caused by six brainless apes with a computer but it acted as a catalyst for whoever hired the Diamond dog boys. She thought as she spoke for the first time since entering the room.
“How foolish are you? Not only for starting this shit on the internet, to begin with but not keeping the password under lock and key? Do you realize what could have happened or how much legal trouble that you could be in, should miss Shimmer or her guardians wanted to push it to the full extent of the law?”
The whole room grew quiet at that so the hacker continued:
“Someone could have died! How would any of you guys have felt if Sunset or any other student affected by that account committed suicide?”
damn, and Celestia compares me to Mrs. Potts. Luna thought as held up a hand, cutting Chrysalis off.
“all nine of you can return to class but you can expect to hear about this again before the end of the day...and know that none of you are to have access to the school's computers or internet for the rest of the school year and that is just the start!”
After everyone left Sunset glanced up nervously at Luna who groaned and put her face into her hands.
“Um...Aunt Luna?” she began, earning a sigh.
“What Sunset?”
The teen glanced down again as she asked: “You're not going to press charges are you?”
Chrysalis arched a brow at the teen, crossing her arms over her chest as she regarded the almost trembling girl in front of them.
“And why shouldn't they push this to the full extent? They could have caused someone to die!”
The question caused Sunset's blood to run cold, not because of the implications of what could have happened but because of what had almost happened the night of the fall formal.
“Because they didn't even expel me and what I did was just as bad if not worse! It wouldn't be fair to give me a chance to shape up after years of abuse and then have them arrested or whatever just because of a few weeks!”
Chrysalis didn't know what to say to that but Luna stood, moving to put a hand on Sunset's shoulder.
“We'll talk to Tia about how to deal with all of this and see what she thinks will be appropriate. Does that sound fair to you?”
Sunset managed a nod, the stress catching up to her as tears pricked at her eyes and caused her to bury her face into the woman's clothing. I made a fool out of myself multiple times today, now there's no way Princess Celestia will forgive me now...not after how rude I was earlier and now Mom knows just how screwed up I am I'll be lucky if she ever looks at me the same way again.
"I'll take her home, it's been a long day for her." Chrysalis said after a few minutes however suddenly a knock came at the door before it opened to reveal Princess Luna.
"May I speak with Sunset Shimmer for a moment? I promise I do not wish to cause any more harm than what has already been done."