//------------------------------//
// Chapter 3 
// Story: Forgiveness 
// by WingKnight 
//------------------------------//

“Aw can we go innow? It’s freezing so bad that I’m starting to turn blue!” Complained Rainbow Dash as she rubbed her arms to stay warm, which was getting harder as it was starting to snow lightly.

“Wait I thought that you were always blue?”
Asked Pinkie Pie innocently, looking at Dash who just rolled her eyes. The others just  tried to stoffel their laughter at Pinkie’s question.

“Well, darlene,” said Rarity with a touch of smugness in her tone of voice, “That is what you get for not wearing any sleeves. I mean, really, there is snow on the ground. One would think that it would be a good indicator that it’s cold outside.”

At that moment, Fluttershy’s cell phone rang, and pulled it out to see that Sunset had sent her a text. Ask if they were going to come inside of if they were just going to keep freezing themselves outside.

Fluttershy made an attempt to let her friends know, Um,girls-“

Applejack  just  laughed and said, “Hay, y’all know Dash! ‘Too cool to be cold ‘ and to thick headed to listen to anyone about anything “.

Um, girls

"Applejack's right Rainbow,” Twilight said as she began to rattle off smartly, “Numerous studies have shown than even in temperatures that are not in the lower digits can cause illness, hypothermia, and-.”

"GIRLS!"

Everyone stopped immediately talking and were shocked to hear Fluttershy yell. Their normally quite friend raising her voice was like a siren going off. Fluttershy appeared quite frustrated for a second, but then she quickly switched back to her normal self like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and said politely, “Sunset asked if we are going to come in and meet Ocellus? Um, or I guess we could just stay out here and freeze. . . "

Rainbow needed no further invitation, and she quickly rushed inside. The others either sighed or gave a quick laugh as they followed her in. After entering Sugarcube Corner, they headed over to their usual spot where they saw Sunset talking to a young girl, who they all figured must be Ocellus.

Seeing her friends heading their way. Sunset's old attitude came back, but not in the way that they use to. More of the sassy kind of way.

"Well, well, well. Look at what the cat dragged in,” Sunset said with a smile, “Finally got tired of starting in the cold? Or did Fluttershy finally get your attention by saying that you could come in?”

Popping out from behind Sunset, Pinkie Pie appeared out of nowhere. She was carrying a tray filled with enough  banana nut muffins and hot chocolate for them all, minus Sunset and Ocellus because they already had some.

"O, kind of both! You see Rainbow and the others where starting to get into an argument about just coming in and coming over and saying ‘Hi Sunset we're here’, but Rarity said it would be impolite to just go in and come over because Ocellus doesn't know us. But then Rainbow started to complain that it was too cold outside and we all started telling her that she should have worn something with sleeves, all well Fluttershy was trying to tell us that we could come in, but we didn't hear her, that is until she screamed loud enough to put the Sirens to shame!”

Pinkie said all of this without taking a single breath, and she spoke so fast that unless you knew her well, you would need to have her repeat every thing she just said. Sunset just laughed at Pinkie being Pinkie, while Ocellus was in complete shock at seeing the faces of her six professors. It was almost impossible to believe that what she was seeing was real.

"Umm, two things,” Ocellus asked cautiously, “One, where did you even get those muffins and hot chocolate? And two, is this some kind of joke or did I really cross over into another universe? Because you all really look like the ponies I know, and trust me, I know when some creature is not being themselves.”

Applejack raised an eyebrow at that. "And what d’ya mean by that?" she asked suspiciously.

Sunset jumped in immediately to defend her fellow Equestrian. "Oh, well, what she means is that back in Equestria, she what’s called a changeling. Back in Equestria, there creatures that can transform themselves to look like anycreature or anything."

Nodding in understanding, the girls were willing to trust Sunset judgment. Also, the fact that Princess Twilight sent Ocellus to them only enhanced it. 

However, Ocellus was still slightly unsure of what was happening. So, she decided to give them a quick test just to make sure that this really was another universe.

"Um, before you tell your side of Anon-a-Miss, can I ask a question real quick? Twilight, does the name Nyx mean anything to you? I just want to make sure this isn't same kind of prank,” Ocellus said.

Twilight gave a nod and said, "You mean the guardian of the night? From the the story Nyx of the Night? Well, I loved that one growing up, but what does she have to do with this being some kind of prank?

Twilight’s answer was more than enough to prove it to Ocellus. "Oh, not important,” Ocellus said quickly, “So, what happened to make you think that miss Shimmer was Anon-a-Miss?”

And so, Applejack took the lead in telling the story, starting with what had happened three years ago. Sunset had split up their group just by changing a few text messages, and did plenty other nasty things in Canterlot High. It had taken Princess Twilight from Equestria to put an end to Sunset’s cruel ways and show her the path of friendship. However, the memories of Sunset’s past actions still remained, which was why when Anon-a-Miss started posting secrets about them, they thought it just had to be her.

As they began to remember everything that had happened, the others started to realize how stupid they were for not even giving Sunset a chance. Pinkie hair was even starting to go deflate. Meanwhile, Ocellus could hardly believe what she was hearing. These girls might not be her teachers, but they were still technically the Elements Bearers.

As Rarity nervously twirled her hair around her fingers, she was the one to finally speak up and say, "So, you see dear, we let are emotions, as well as what happened before hand, get the better of us. All because we just thought what we wanted to think, without hearing or looking at all of the facts."

"Rarity's right, we weren’t thinking," said Rainbow, frowning bitterly as she remembered what a jerk she was, “I mean, I would normally never leave a friend out to dry. Huh, some Elements of Harmony we are. Personally I think Twilight's lucky. Both of them".

Rainbow took a quick look at the Twilight at her side, who just smiled and nodded.

Rainbow turned back to Ocellus and continued, “But after our sisters admitted the whole thing, we did what we're doing right now: Talking about it. . . even if some things were said that can’t be unsaid."

Sunset sighed in slight annoyance, but nevertheless smiled and said, "Rainbow, I told you and the other countless times: I forgive you!”

Rarity was the one who answered, and she said apologetically, "Sunset, we know, but we still cannot believe we were so foolish. And normally I enjoy a little bit of gossip. We simply didn’t give you the benefit of the doubt, and we can never fully make up for the way we hurt you.” Rarity sniffled a bit, then turned her attention to Ocellus. “So, dear, after hearing both sides of the story, are you feeling any better?"

Ocellus thought it all over, and she realized that after hearing everything, she really did feel better about her own problem. In fact, she was starting to get an idea about what to do back at school.

"You know what...yes,” Ocellus said with a smile, “But one thing, didn’t any of you think it was a little too obvious that it was Sunset? Coming from a changeling, I know that making yourself too well known is a bad idea. We used to have to make sure we didn’t get caught. If we were, then we didn't eat!”

Pinkie, hearing that last part, returned to her normal Pinkie self, her hair poofing up again and her boundless energy returning. "Oooo! What do you mean by that?” Pinkie asked eagerly, “Do you and others changelings feed on negative energy like in a cartoon?"

"Well, if you want, I can tell you all about the hive and the other changelings,” Ocellus offered politely.

Fluttershy's eyes grow three times in size at the prospect of  getting to hear more about Equestria. "Oh yes! Sunset hardly tells us anything about her home world."

The rest of the girls voiced their agreement, so Ocellus quickly began, "Well I guess I should start at the beginning. I was born under the rule of Queen Chrysalis. She was an awful tyrant who wanted to conquer all of Equestria so the changelings could feed off of everypony’s love. She made our kind widely known to Equestria when she made plans to invade the city of Canterlot. Her plan was to crash the wedding Princess Cadence and Shining Armor. . .”