At Sweet Apple Acres, an alarm went off.
Apple Bloom wearily shut off the annoying clock, then got out of bed slowly. Thanks to the nightmare she had, she barely got any sleep! She had known Sunset's meltdown was not her fault, nor her friends'... but she still felt some sort of responsibility for it. The scream from the day before reverberated in her head, and she shuddered.
There was a knock on her door. "Apple Bloom, y'all decent," Big Mac asked from the other side.
"I just woke up. I'm still in my PJs."
Big Mac entered Apple Bloom's room. "Granny and I got to talkin' downstairs. We figured that after the day you had yesterday, we would understand if you didn't wanna go to school today."
Scootaloo was awakened by a knock at her door. She rubbed her eyes, then stretched with a yawn. She had had more than enough nightmares to last a lifetime!
"Hey slugger, you awake in there," a familiar voice asked from the other end of Scootaloo's bedroom door.
"A... Auntie Lofty?"
The door opened, and in walked a very pale yellow middle-aged woman wearing a lavender turtleneck sweater. She ran a hand through her blue and cyan hair. "You sleep well?"
Scootaloo scoffed. "I wish."
"That's not surprising after what happened yesterday," Lofty said as she folded her arms. "Speaking of which, Aunt Holiday and I had a talk..."
Sweetie Belle stirred in her bed, then slowly opened her eyes with a heavy sigh.
"Because you hate yourself for what happened."
Sweetie shuddered, then pulled at her eye sockets. She considered herself lucky for being able to fall asleep after a dream like that! With a sigh, she got out of bed, then blinked upon hearing her phone buzz. She grabbed her phone and looked at it.
Now Calling: Apple Bloom
Sweetie accepted the call. "Hey Apple Bloom," she said sleepily, then stretched. "What's up?"
Before Apple Bloom could speak, Sweetie's phone buzzed again.
Now Calling: Scootaloo
"Hold that thought, Scootaloo's calling." Sweetie accepted the call, then connected it and put her phone on speaker. "All right, girls," She said as she stretched. "What's the plan for today?"
"Actually, we need to talk about something," Scootaloo said.
What followed was a conversation detailing the nightmares they each had as Sweetie got dressed, then it finished with the offers of staying home for the day.
"Wait... why didn't Mom or Dad come to me with that," Sweetie asked in surprise.
"Ya can't expect the same thing to happen to all three of us all the time," Apple Bloom said. "That'd just be plum weird!"
Sweetie rolled her eyes. "Yeah, I guess you have a point."
"So? Y'all gonna stay home?"
Sweetie shook her head. "Nah. It'd be silly to stay home over a bad day and a nightmare." She grit her teeth and held onto her arm. "No matter how painful the memory of yesterday might be..."
Silence filled Sweetie's room for a few moments.
"Well, we aren't going to stay home either," Scootaloo said. "The three of us do pretty much everything together, after all!"
"Yeah," Apple Bloom agreed. "Besides, we'll need each other's support to get through the day."
"Then it's settled," Sweetie said, feeling a little better. "See you at school!"
Sweetie hung up, then ran downstairs.
Trixie opened her eyes and stared up at her bedroom ceiling, then sighed heavily as a feeling of emptiness washed over herself. What the hell were she and Wallflower thinking when they cooked up that shitty Anon-A-Miss scheme?! Disgusted with herself, she buried herself under the covers.
Trixie felt a pang of guilt, and she yelped. She groaned, then curled up into the fetal position and hugged herself. Self-loathing began to overtake her and she was assaulted with multiple emotions. Anger. Regret. Sadness. Disgust. Those and more threatened to overwhelm her, and it was all she could do to hold herself back until she grabbed a pillow and screamed into it as tears fell from her cheeks.
Trixie did not feel any better after her crying stopped. She twisted and squirmed, recalling Sunset Shimmer's tale of what she had seen on the other side of the rainbow vortex. For Trixie, it drove home the fact that her and Wallflower's actions not only brought the former bully's guilt back, but amplified it and quite possibly left a mental scar!
If Sunset's guilt was far worse than Trixie's... how on earth did she live with herself?!
Wallflower lied awake in bed, the taste of bile still fresh in her mouth. She felt miserable. Emotionally, physically, and mentally miserable. She hadn't felt this terrible since Sunset shattered her heart! She slowly shook her head, then got out of bed. She stood still and sighed heavily.
What was the point of even getting up? Wallflower was... she was too ashamed of herself to finish that thought. She took a deep breath, then exhaled as she walked up to her mirror. She closed her eyes, afraid of what she would see.
Wallflower stood in place, her hands clenched into fists as she slowly opened her eyes. Her grip loosened as she stared at the young woman in the mirror. Her eyes were puffy from the tears she had shed the night before, and her face was still pale from being sick to her stomach.
Wallflower's reflection gave her a blank stare for several moments, then hardened its expression. "I don't like what you've become," it whispered, then turned away.
Wallflower Blush slowly left her room and went downstairs, descending further into the personal hell she made for herself.
Sunset bolted awake with a loud gasp as the Demonself's malicious laughter finished off yet another nightmare. Cold sweat dripped down her forehead, and she got out of bed. Looking down from her loft, she noticed six young women looking at her with grave concern.
"Hey, guys," Sunset said wearily.
"How y'all holdin' up, sugarcube," Applejack asked.
Sunset put a hand to her forehead. "Feeling kinda shitty, Applejack... feeling kinda shitty."
"The girls and I were talking last night," Twilight said. "And we all agreed that if you want, you can stay here and we'll all keep you company."
Sunset leaned on the guard railing of her loft and cupped her chin. She probably should stay home and continue to rest up, but she'd have to contend with the possibility of more nightmares. If she chose to go back to Canterlot High, she might end up subjecting herself to further trauma.
Sunset closed her eyes and looked deep inside of herself.
The Demonself cackled. "You're damning yourself either way, Sunset Shimmer!"
Sunset felt a twinge of fear, but also felt frustrated. She grit her teeth, then opened her eyes and narrowed them in determination. "I'm going."
Sunset's six friends looked at each other, then back up at her.
"Are you absolutely sure about this, darling?"
Rainbow folded her arms. "We don't want you to get any more fucked up than you already are."
"Rainbow Dash," Rarity scolded. "Honestly!"
"What," Rainbow asked defensively.
Sunset smiled. "I'll be okay. I have you guys if I need any help."
"Your mind is made up," Fluttershy asked.
"My mind is made up," Sunset said with a nod.
A silence fell inside Sunset's apartment for a few tense moments.
"Okie dokie lokie," Pinkie said, breaking the silence.
Sunset grabbed her clothes and went down to her bathroom to change.
Twilight, Rainbow, Rarity, Fluttershy, Applejack and Pinkie gave each other meaningful looks, then took out their phones and texted.
Sunset finished changing, and each of the girls took turns doing the same. Once they were all dressed, they headed out the door.
Unbeknownst to Sunset Shimmer, a message spread like wildfire:
Operation: Sunshine is a go!