Applejack arrived at her desk in Mr. Cranky's math class just moments before class started. All around her, students were sending texts to their classmates, having last minute talks with friends, and pulling out their textbooks, homework, and notebooks.
Applejack noticed how bitter everyone was. While Mondays were almost never fun, there was a extra-sense of malaise surrounding them that had nothing to do with Monday Blues.
The cause of that malaise was made more prominent by her absence. Applejack glanced over to the empty desk immediately to her right.
"Shouldn't Sunset be here by now?", Applejack thought. Sunset was many, many things. But she was never a slacker. Unlike the stereotypical high school bad girl, Sunset took her studies seriously. She was always the first to arrive, was always raising her hand and answering the question correctly, and was always getting good grades. Whether that was part of the "nice girl" act she put on for the teachers, some genuine belief in hard work, or just another kind of vanity, Applejack didn't know.
But ever since last Friday, not knowing where Sunset filled her and other students with more than a bit of dread, if their glances toward Sunset's desk were any indication.
"Hello class," Mr. Cranky said in his stern voice. "I'm sure we all had an...eventful Friday," he said, his voice becoming unusually light.
"Eventful was an understatement," Applejack thought. Magic turned out to be real, Sunset turned into a demon, brainwashed some students, destroyed a chunk of the school, Canterlot got to host an actual magical princess, and Applejack and her friends briefly gained superpowers. The events seemed to put everyone so on edge, that even taking about it in a marginal way made everyone deathly quiet.
"However," Mr. Cranky said. "We cannot allow what happened to keep us from doing our work. The world stops for no one." He pulled out his attendance sheet.
"Applejack," he asked.
"Present," the cowgirl said.
"Berry Punch,"
"Present".
He read the names of 17 other students, but his voice veered off as he reached the name at the very bottom.
"Sunset....Shimmer," Cranky said, his crabby voice becoming unusually quiet. Normally, Cranky would say Sunset's name with a small amount of pride. The math teacher had overlooked Sunset's bullying due to her excellent grades and being an active student. But no amount of A's could make the man overlook the damage done to the school entrance. Applejack heard the attendance sheet crinkle under Cranky's grasp, as if the man was squeezing it in anger.
"Absent," Cranky said, gritting his teeth. The whispers among Applejack's classmates indicated that their attitude toward Sunset was even worse.
"I heard that bitch got arrested."
"No, I heard they locked her up in a secret government lab."
"Good. I hope they rip her guts out."
"Maybe she'll finally be gone for good."
"Everyone here wants to tear her head off. She'd be an idiot not to scram."
"Silence," Cranky said. The venomous gossip died down. He pulled out a brown dry erase marker, and began drawing some fancy equation on the board.
That last comment filled Applejack with some dark satisfaction. The blond farmer had been wishing for the little witch to leave and never come back. She hated Sunset since her little sabotage of the school's Alumni Banquet freshman year.
"Needs more sugar," Pinkie Pie said, tasting some of the cake batter with her finger. Applejack and Pinkie Pie were in the school's kitchen, clad in chef's hats and aprons. They were surrounded by various ingredients, bowls, and kitchen utensils. They had volunteered to provide fresh-baked goods for tomorrow's Alumni Banquet.
To Applejack, it was just an attempt to kiss up to the rich alumni so they would make donations. But any penny that went to the school was good for them. And if people liked her cooking, she could get new customers for her family's farm. So she and Pinkie slaved away to get things ready.
"Don't worry about it," Applejack said kindly, "we've got plenty of-," her eyes widened when she saw Pinkie trying to pour an entire bag of sugar into one of the bowls.
"Pinkie," Applejack yelled, grabbing the pink girl by the arm to keep her from pouring the bag. "This has to be done right! You can't just pour sugar in willy-nilly!"
"Why not? They're called sweets, aren't they?" Pinkie Pie asked innocently.
Applejack slapped her hand against her face and sighed. Pinkie Pie was a competent and loving friend for sure. But that didn't change the fact that she was very...off in a lot of ways.
"I don't want anyone getting sick," Applejack said with a sad voice. "How would you feel if someone got a...tummy ache at a party," Applejack said uneasily, not liking to sound juvenile. Pinkie Pie gasped with horror at the very idea.
"Oh, Applejack, I'm sorry," she said, almost in tears. "I wouldn't want to make anyone sick."
"You won't, as long as you follow the recipe," Applejack assured. She went back to her stirring bowl when out of nowhere came a fire-haired girl.
"Ahh," Applejack said startled.
"I'm sorry, did I scare you?" the girl from the school newspaper said with a sheepish smile on her face. She was wearing a large handbag on her shoulder and was holding a pen and notebook.
"Sorry, I just didn't see you come in," Applejack drawled. "Nice to see you-uh," Applejack stammered, trying to remember the girl's name.
"Hey Sunny-Wunny," Pinkie Pie said. "It has been so long since we've seen each other."
"Yes, two hours is a long time," Sunset said, with a smile that was slightly strained. Applejack looked at the amber-skinned girl with sympathy. Sunset was new in town, so she was still trying to get used to Pinkie being...Pinkie. "Listen, I need some stories for the school newspaper, and I wanted to ask you some questions about...baking".
"Really," Pinkie Pie said with some excitement.
Soon Sunset began asking questions about how long it took to bake, what they were baking, baking tips, why they baked. Sprinkled in were questions of an undeniably personal nature, like their schedules, their plans after school, and their plans for the weekend.
"Uh, Sunset," Applejack said uneasily when Sunset asked about her Sunday schedule, "we're kind of busy. We can talk...later." Sunset was an...odd girl to say the least. At times, she was as happy-go-lucky as Pinkie Pie and at other times, she seemed quite solitary.
In class, she was a model student always raising her hand and answering the teacher's questions. When working for the newspaper, she acted as giddy as a kid in a candy store, enthusiastically asking people very intrusive questions. At lunch however, she sat by herself, brushing off invitations by people who wanted to eat with her and boys wanting to go out with her.
"What are you talking about Applejack," Pinkie Pie said, not grasping subtle social cues. "We have-," Applejack gave her a light tap on the shoe with her boot. That was a hint she took. "Sorry, Sunny," Pinkie Pie said with a shrug. Sunset started to look a bit sad.
"Sunset," Applejack asked,"are you OK?"
"I understand," Sunset said with a sad voice. "You think I'm a freak," she said, her eyes watering. Applejack and Pinkie felt a pang of sympathy.
"No," Applejack said uneasily. "We never said that. We're just..."
"I'm sorry for being so annoying," Sunset said sadly. "I'm just...new to this world-I mean, town! I didn't have any friends where I came from. And I'm trying to make new ones, and I thought joining the paper would help me do that." She let out a sad sigh. "But I just embarrass myself every time," she said, weeping. Pinkie Pie and Applejack shared a concerned look.
"Hey, Hey," Applejack said, in a soothing tone. "If you need friends, I'll be there to help you out, sugarcube."
"So will I," Pinkie Pie said happily.
"Really," Sunset Shimmer asked. Her tears faded, and she let out a grateful smile. "You can't imagine how...pleased I am to hear this."
"You can join us for lunch tomorrow, if you want to," Pinkie Pie said.
"That sound's great," Sunset said with joy. Sunset looked at her watch. "Oh sorry, got things to do," she said, putting the notebook in her handbag. "I'm sure everyone is gonna," she paused, her eyes darting left to right for some reason,"get a kick out of your pastries."
"See y'all later," Applejack said to the girl, who ran out of the kitchen.
"Bye," Pinkie said with a wave.
After another hour of pouring and mixing, the baked goods were in the industrial oven. Applejack and Pinkie Pie, their skin covered in flour, smiled as they watched their pastries cook.
"After all this time, we're finally done," Applejack said with a relieved sigh.
"Don't our little munchkins look precious," Pinkie Pie said, cooing at the baking pastries like they were babies in an incubator.
"Anyways, lets go get cleaned up," Applejack said, brushing off the flour on her body. The two teenagers walked out of the kitchen, ignoring a red and yellow-haired girl who was watching them leave while hidden in one of the hallways. Once they left, the girl looked at the kitchen with cruel glee, holding a brown plastic bottle in her hand.
Pinkie Pie and Applejack sat in Princess Luna's office the next day looking utterly miserable, while Luna was looking at them with a small amount of condemnation.
"How did this happen?" Luna asked with some discomfort.
"We don't know," Pinkie Pie said with tears in her eyes.
"Ms. Vice Principal," Applejack said pleadingly. "We followed the recipes exactly."
"Did you," the Vice Principal asked sternly. "Because there are 39 people who are sick with diarrhea. Many of them are alumni who make donations to the school." She leaned her head forward, making her stern eyes more visible. "Be honest. Was this your idea of a prank?"
"I would never ruin good cakes and pies just to make people sick at a party," Pinkie Pie said, outraged at the idea. "Parties are for fun." Luna looked at the two fiercely for a moment, before letting out a sigh.
"OK, fine. I'll accept that this was some accident," Luna said, her anger falling away. "However, the school board said that you two can't bake anything on campus, or bring your own goods, for the rest of the year. And Applejack, we," she paused uneasily, looking down for a moment. "won't be doing business with your family's farm."
"WHAT?!" Both girls asked with horror.
"Why," Pinkie Pie asked with dismay.
"Like I said, this was a very important event," Principal Luna said with some sadness. "The School Board is afraid that some alumni might not donate anything to the school because of this. So, to prevent further incidents, they want you absent from any more baking events."
"Please don't stop buying from the Apple farm," Applejack pleaded. "We need that income. And if you cut us off, we could lose even more business."
"Look, we promise to be more careful," Pinkie Pie said, tears falling down her eyes. "Pinky promise," she said, holding her pinky to Principal Luna.
"Pinkie," Luna said forcefully. The pink girl retracted her finger. "I know it was an accident. But the School Board doesn't want anymore incidents like this. I want to give you girls another chance, but they have the final say." She paused and let out a small sigh. "I'm sorry."
Pinkie Pie and Applejack walked out of the principal's office. The former was really upset, while the latter was fuming.
"I wonder what went wrong," Pinkie Pie said.
"Maybe if you'd follow the danggum recipe, I wouldn't have lost some business," Applejack bellowed.
"You're blaming me," Pinkie Pie asked with dismay.
"You love to dump sugar into everything," Applejack yelled. "You obnoxious little moron!" Pinkie Pie gasped in horror.
"Well, maybe if you weren't such a frowny pants," Pinkie Pie said with anger, "no one would've gotten sick."
"That doesn't make sense!"
"YOU DON'T MAKE SENSE!"
Applejack and Pinkie Pie's argument deteriorated into a screaming match. All the while, someone was watching the fight from a distance with joy.
"Candy from a baby," Sunset said with a smile.
The baking incident, combined with what turned out to be fake E-mails and messages from Sunset (which she didn't learn about until last week) destroyed Applejack's relationship with Pinkie.
After something similar happened at a baking contest that Sunset was a part of in January, four months later, Applejack pieced together that Sunset poured something into the batter that made everyone sick. She tried to tell off Sunset and rough her up, but the fire-haired girl had covered her tracks, much to her fury.
"Hey Applejack," Sunset asked the cowgirl in a casual tone. "What's going on?" The note placed in her locker said to come and meet with the farm girl in some darkened hallway with a dead end when nobody was around. Applejack leaned against the wall at the end of the hallway, her arms crossed, looking at Sunset with a stern expression. Applejack looked like a film noir character with her cowboy hat and her face hidden in the shadows. Sunset looked at the environment, with its poor lighting and darkness, and admired the deep mysterious tone.
"This looks like an excellent place to have words", Sunset thought to herself.
"You were in some kind of baking contest. One I or Pinkie could've joined if it wasn't for my ban." Applejack said with a stern look. "And everyone's food made everyone sick...except yours"
"Yeah, its quite a shame," Sunset said, pretending to look at her nails.
"With everyone else ill, you took home the prize," Applejack said, raising an eyebrow. "Quite convenient."
"Is this going somewhere," Sunset asked with a forced yawn. "I have better things to-,"
"Something similar happened four months ago," Applejack said. "Pinkie and I were baking for an alumni party, everyone got sick, my family farm's reputation took a hit, and now we're banned from baking for the rest of the school year."
"And?"
"And I remember you were asking all kinds of questions," Applejack drawled. "About our schedules and plans for the weekend." Applejack's eyes narrowed. "So I think you're a good suspect." To Applejack's shock, Sunset began clapping in a mocking way.
"Congratulations, Sherlock", Sunset said with a small sneer. "You figured it out in the amount of time is takes for you to count to ten. Well done." AJ's heckles were raised by that slight.
"So you dumped junk into our pastries," Applejack growled. "And you did that at the baking contest too?"
"Yep," Sunset said casually. It was as if she was ignorant of Applejack's burning rage, or just didn't care. "Sorry," she said in an insincere tone, "Getting you banned from the kitchen wasn't personal. It was just-,"
"You made people dozens of people sick?!" Applejack bellowed. Sunset looked confused, as if she expected Applejack to be angry at Sunset about her farm losing business, not the fact that dozens of people go ill. "How....could you?!
"Good job. You've managed to use words with at least one syllable," Sunset snarked.
"Is this your hobby? Making people ill for fun," Applejack growled. Sunset let out a mocking smile.
"Let me put it in small words so you'll understand," Sunset said with a mocking smile. "I have a goal."
"What's your goal," Applejack said.
"There is something I want," Sunset growled in a rage. "Something some stupid little busybody thought I didn't deserve despite all the work I did for her." Whatever Sunset wanted, the clenching of her fists made it clear getting it denied to her pissed her off beyond comprehension.
"So whatever it is you want, you're willing to hurt people to get it," Applejack asked disbelief. Sunset's scowl became a vicious grin.
"Yep, Sunset said darkly. "Again, you wouldn't understand. But it means more to me than anything else. So what if your stupid family ended up in the poor house. So what if a bunch of idiots get sick." Sunset then let out an unnaturally happy smile that really enraged Applejack. "What matters is that I get what I want-" Sunset was so caught up in her megalomaniacal rant, she didn't hear the sound of boots running. Before she finished her sentence, she felt herself roughly shoved up against a locker. The impact hurt her back a little and took some breath out of her. When Sunset was less dazed, she saw a furious Applejack keeping her pinned against the locker, while holding her by her shirt.
"Tell me one good reason I shouldn't break every bone in your body, you psycho-bitch," Applejack snarled. To her shock, Sunset looked more amused then scared.
"Go ahead," Sunset said in a soft voice. "Take a swing at me. Let out your anger." Applejack's grip on Sunset became more limp. "What's wrong," she asked in a mocking voice. "Did you lose your nerve?"
"You got some kind of camera filming this, don't you," Applejack asked, releasing Sunset and looking around.
"Maybe I do. Maybe I don't," Sunset said with a roll of her eyes. "But if I did I, could easily get you suspended for laying a finger on me."
"Well," Applejack said, trying to cover the chill that went down her spine,"I could...tell the Principal what you did."
"Where's your evidence?" Sunset asked with a grin. Applejack's eyes darted back and forth. "All you have is your word against mine. You're just some peasant," Sunset said with a highly aristocratic voice, "while I'm an honor role student. Do you really think you can convince them that I, the top student in class, would stoop so low?" Applejack began feeling sweaty.
"I can't", Applejack admitted sadly. "But listen to me Shimmer," Applejack said regaining some of her nerve,"if you ever try anything like that ever-," Sunset slammed her arm loudly into the locker near Applejack. It made the farmer jump a little.
"Listen to me, cowgirl," Sunset said with some disdain. "I was able to destroy your reputation here with a bottle of laxative. It took one day for me to ensure that no one would ever buy your apple junk again here. And no one found out about it until it was too late to make a difference." Her smile became undeniably sadistic. "If I wanted to, I could ruin your farm, drive you into the streets without a penny, and then go home and sleep like a baby." Applejack's face blanched. "And you would never see it coming," Sunset said, leaning so far into Applejack's face that the farmer felt Sunset's breath under her chin. Applejack finally looked down, unable face Sunset.
"Oh, so now you understand," Sunset said mockingly. "And everyone here thinks you're slow. Mess with me, and I'll ruin you. Stay out of my way, and we won't have trouble. Got it?" Applejack nodded, but still tried to get one last barb.
"You're an inhuman beast," Applejack barked, still unable to look Sunset. Sunset laughed, albeit more genuinely this time. It was like her own inside joke.
"Empty insults won't help you," Sunset gloated, walking away from a downcast Applejack who just looked down in shame, hearing only the sound of Sunset's heels as they touched the floor. "Like I said, stay out of my way." Applejack looked like she was on the verge of tears. "And this conversation never happened."
Applejack was intimidated into not striking back, nor warning others. Applejack tried to go for a low blow, but couldn't find anything in Sunset's background to use against her. No employment history, no family, nothing. Sunset had gotten away with it. Not only that, she had succeeded in permanently destroying her relationships with the other Rainbooms.
Or so she thought.
She pulled out a locket from her purse, opened it, and looked kindly at the group picture she took with the girls and Princess Twilight.
"Thank you so much," she said quietly to the girl...pony...thing who had helped rebuild her friendship with Pinkie and everyone else. She wondered how many other lives the Princess of Friendship had helped in that pony world of hers. But looking at the picture of the magic girl, she couldn't help but think back to what the Princess of Friendship asked of them: to give Sunset a chance.
Her fists clenched in anger at the idea.
Sunset hurt the reputation of Sweet Apple Acres and her friendships. Almost every week since the beginning of this year, Shimmer had called her every single slur about rural folk that there was in the book. Hick, redneck, hillbilly, trailer trash. She wanted to punch the person who said "they were just words" right in the face. Sunset's insults hit her like bullets.
She remembered Sunset even making snide remarks at poor Apple Bloom. Applejack wanted to use her muscled arms to make the bitch pay, but Sunset could easily just complain to the teacher, and get her suspended for assaulting her.
Sunset had hurt her and so many others in ways.
But still, despite Sunset trying to make her life miserable too, the pony princess still sought to forgive Sunset instead of dragging her to a dungeon like she deserved. She then begged everyone else to do the same. That Princess clearly didn't hold any grudges, and urged others not to.
Applejack's late mother, Pear Butter, had told her the same thing.
"Revenge is a weapon that will hurt you if you try and fire it," she would tell Applejack. Pear Butter mentioned the family feud that nearly kept her from marrying her father Bright Mac as an example of why revenge and grudges hurt you worse. Applejack wondered if they would tell her to give Sunset a second chance.
"Miss Applejack," Mr. Cranky bellowed, breaking Applejack out of her thoughts "Are you daydreaming?"
"No, sir," Applejack said timidly. She felt uncomfortable
"Then perhaps you could explain how to break down polynomials," he said with a frown.
"Uh," Applejack said.
"That's what I thought," Mr. Cranky said with disgust. "Pay attention."
Applejack didn't know what she would do. The choice would be easier to make if Sunset was still here.
Applejack met with her friends at lunch. She saw how they were all on good terms, chatting amiably instead of being at each other's throats. It really warmed her heart.
"Hey guys," she said, putting her trey on the table. Her friends greeted her enthusiastically.
"What's going on with y'all," Applejack asked. She heard varying degrees of "not much" from all her friends. Still, a lingering question hung in her mind.
"Have you guys seen Sunset," Applejack asked. The good mood crashed, as everyone gave her a stern look.
"No," Rarity said in a controlled voice, "I have not seen...her."
"Neither have I," Fluttershy said in a fearful tone.
"She must have vanished, because I haven't seen her anywhere," Pinkie Pie said.
"Good," Rainbow Dash said simply. "She better." Pinkie Pie gasped.
"Rainbow how could you be so mean," Pinkie Pie asked. Rainbow Dash gave her an incredulous look.
"Do I have to explain it to you Pinkie Pie," Rainbow Dash replied, her voice brimming with anger. "She was horrible to everybody and everything in this school."
"But, we promised Princess Twilight to give Sunset a chance," Pinkie Pie protested. "Right?" Rarity and Fluttershy looked uneasy, while Applejack quietly hid her own internal conflict about it.
"Well darling," Rarity said nervously. "I know we promised her. But...look at the damage she did," she hissed. "To the school and to everyone's personal lives."
"She was always so mean to me," Fluttershy squealed. Rainbow Dash put a comforting hand on Fluttershy's shoulder, which the yellow girl greatly appreciated.
"Sunset was more then just a jerk," Rainbow uttered, clenching her fist. "She was a monster! Even before she put on that stupid crown. I really hope we don't see her ever again!"
"But-," Pinkie Pie protested, but was stopped by Applejack raising her hand.
"Look, maybe shouldn't talk about it until we're in better spirits," Applejack said. To her relief, everyone became less tense, and the subject moved into the more mundane.
The Next Day
The rooster-shaped alarm clock woke Applejack up in her bedroom. She groaned, seeing it was 5:30 AM. She hated getting up early, but it was her job to deliver the pies, cakes, and other pastries to the supermarket. With another yawn and stretch, she got out of her bed, changed out of her pajamas, and got into her work clothes.
After some help from some hired hands, Applejack was able to load the Apple Family products into a truck, and drove to the market. Despite it being morning, the day was still as black as night. Applejack drove through the streets of Canterlot with tired eyes. When she drove by Canterlot High, she saw a few people working near the destroyed entrance.
Applejack was so stunned at seeing who it was, she barely noticed she swerved into the other side of the road.
"WHOOOAAAAA," Applejack uttered, trying to get back on the right-side of the road after nearly colliding with someone else. She drove into the CHS parking lot, got out of her truck, and quietly walked toward the entrance, confirming what she saw.
Sunset Shimmer, wearing an orange helmet and yellow construction vest, was picking up debris and putting it into some kind of dumspter. Standing over Sunset were two men were supervising her with stern expressions in their eyes. What made Applejack pause was the utterly forlorn look in Sunset's eyes. Sunset looked so broken, so depressed, so...not Sunset.
Applejack looked at her watch and decided her work was more important then her curiosity. She ran back into her van, and resumed driving to her destination. Still the way Sunset looked gave Applejack a pit in her stomach.