Sunset walked to her locker after classes were over for the day. As soon as her locker opened, a note fell out. She noticed it and picked it up. She was rather nervous reading it over. It was highly unusual for anyone to want to meet with her alone after school. Maybe this is a prank? she thought, "maybe someone has it out for me?" She followed the letter, neglecting to mention it to the others, only telling them that she had something to take care of after school and she would meet them at the old hangout after she was finished. They had not questioned her further.
Sunset arrived at the location the letter had mentioned and there seemed to be no one around. Then she spotted a boy in a hoodie. He motioned to her and she drew near. "Where are the others?" he questioned. "Around a corner somewhere waiting for their time to pounce?" he asked. She shook her head.
"I came alone. I did not even mention that I was meeting you to the girls. They are at the Sweet Shoppe waiting for me." Sunset said.
The man seemed surprised. She had actually done as he had asked? Maybe she was trustworthy after all.
Maybe this whole friendship thing was something that could actually work. That was a chance he was a little more than scared to make though.
"So, what did you want to talk about?" She already had an idea what he would say, but she let him say it on his own time. It is never good to make others rush into things. It might scare them off. She knew he would probably ask her about friendship or something like that.
She waited for his response. When he said nothing, she looked at him worried. Then, she was quite surprised. He was... hugging her? What had she done to merit that? Little did she know, she had not known much, but she did show that there was someone who genuinely cared for him. He began to tear up. These were not tears of the hurt he had endured his entire life, these tears were not the abandonment issues or the brokenheartedness that he had felt. These were genuinely happy tears. Something he had not had in, well it must have been years.
"Would the others act the same?" he questioned in a slightly worried tone. She responded with a happy nod.
"Would you like to actually meet them? If you know me, then I am sure you know them, but you probably only know what everyone else knows, so would you be interested in going to the Sweet Shoppe with me?" She finally asked after a brief happy silence between them.
The strange man started to laugh a little. "Asking me on a date already? Little early for that don't ya think?" Sunset blushed immediately as she registered what she had just said to the man.
"That's not the way I meant it, but I'm not opposed to the idea if you would be interested in it," she said winking.
With that, they talked and had a few laughs on their way to meet the others. Surely they would be worried. She had been gone for nearly two hours.
The doorbell (still a physical bell because of how long the Sweet Shoppe had been here) to the Sweet Shoppe rang and the other girls looked surprised to see Sunset with a boy on her arm. "Hey, girls," She said, "Dory, this is Pinkie, Rainbow, Fluttershy, Applejack, Rarity, and Twilight." She gestured to each with their names. They all said their hello's and sat down.
Rainbow, being the queen of rude questions, asked if the two of them were dating or something similar. Dory just blushed and Sunset denied it. Okay, Dory thought, good to know where we stand with each other. Throughout the rest of the questioning and the extensive storytelling Dory was giving them, Sunset's arm never left his side. It felt like she was trying to prove a point to him. Maybe he wasn't as alone as he had always thought. He had no idea why he was so comfortable telling them all about his life. The life that he swore he would keep hidden from others because no one was trustworthy anymore. But then again, Applejack was the Element of Honesty, she would probably ask more questions if he had just made his whole story up and starting off lying to potential friends was never a good opener. If they could not trust him to be honest now, how would they know he was sincere any time down the road?