“But who would do something like this?” Applejack frowned as she pulled away from the group hug.
“To do this much damage over a few days…” Fluttershy looked down.
“Say, anypony knows how this pony managed to leave hair and fur around, but not leave their own?” Pinkie asked.
“They must’ve done it from a distance, so I’m guessing they could’ve used magic.” Rainbow Dash suggested.
“That’s a possibility, darling. If that’s the case, that’ll be easy for us.” Rarity said as Sunset nodded.
“Rarity’s right. If this pony really used magic, then we can just trace the magic back to the caster.” She said, pointing her horn at the bunch of hair and fur on the ground as her horn lit up. A frown quickly grew on her face as she looked to Rarity, whose actions mimicked hers. “Rares? Do you think it’s a mistake?”
“Why? What’s the problem?” Rainbow Dash asked. Rarity just sighed as she broke off her magic.
“Darling, I’m afraid we’re going to have to have another talk with our younger sisters.”
They had expected the three little fillies to be repentant. Instead, once confronted, the three fillies just grew angry.
“So we caused the damage! So what?!” Applebloom screamed. “It’s not like you’ve ever cared about what we do anyway!”
“What the hay do you mean by that, sugarcube? Of course I care!”
“Yeah, only when it concerns other ponies.” Sweetie scoffed, which made Rarity gasp loudly.
“Sweetie Belle! That’s no way for a lady to speak!”
“I don’t care. You only ever come to us when other ponies are involved! It’s never just about us!” Sweetie yelled before turning away.
“My parents are almost never around.” Scootaloo said bitterly. “That’s why I was happy when you said we’d be sisters. I thought we’d get to spend more time together, but you don’t care at all! Even when we broke you up, you still kept to yourselves, as if we didn’t exist!”
“You mean that wasn’t just a prank? You did that intentionally?” Applejack asked.
“Yeah! And if you had just cared more for us and asked us why, you’d find that our stories wouldn’t have made any sense and you’d find out the real reason why we did it!” Applebloom snapped. “But nooo, the new pony runs away and all of you just gave chase immediately!” She threw her hooves up into the air in exasperation and huffed.
“If we had done the same, you’d just leave us be! How can you still say you’re our sisters when you don’t even care for us?” Sweetie screamed. “I hate you! I hate all of you!”
“Sweeite Belle, that’s enough!” Rarity chided but Sweetie paid her no heed. Sunset’s eyes widened as she watched them, noticing the trail of dark magic floating around the three fillies. Are they already corrupted? Or not yet? I have to stop them before it consumes them completely! She thought to herself as she stepped forward.
“Why do you care more for her than us?” Scootaloo asked, angry tears in her eyes. “We’re your own sisters! She’s just an outsider!” The three fillies glared to Sunset, the pure hatred in their eyes making her flinch back. “We’re been here all our lives and we’ve never been able to get along with anypony else other than ourselves! So how does it make any sense that you just came not long ago and you’re already so popular with everypony?!”
“C’mon, Scoots, you just gotta go talk to them, that’s all. It’s not that hard.” Rainbow Dash said.
“Easy for you to say! But nopony has ever paid any attention to us either! Why should they? We’re just 3 blank flanked little fillies!” Sweetie said. “If you had cared more for us, you’d notice our struggle!”
“Is that why you broke up the rest of Ponyville as well?” Fluttershy asked.
“It was infuriating.” Applebloom spat bitterly. “They were all so cheerful and friendly. They were so trusting of one another. Well, the only ponies we could trust were ourselves! It was so unfair! So we made them feel how we felt all these years!”
“And anyway, we were fine, y’know?” Scootaloo said. “We were fine even if we had to be by ourselves!” She directed her glare to Sunset. “But then you came, and as if it wasn’t enough that you managed to get along with everypony which we couldn’t manage to do, you started to steal our sisters away from us! We’ve been with them for so much longer, and yet, they spend more time than they do with us! How is that fair?!”
“So you aimed to frame her and get her casted out of our group, or even out of Ponyville, because you were jealous of her.” Pinkie summarised.
“Not like it worked anyway.” Applebloom grumbled as she kicked a pebble. Sunset found herself speechless. The three fillies’ angry eyes reflected her own, back when she had still been Celestia’s student.
“Look here, you little-!”
“Dash, wait.” Everypony looked to Sunset, who approached the three fillies. “You know, we’re not so different.” She said as she sat down in front of them. “I envy you. At least you have sisters who care for you. Maybe it wasn’t enough to you, but it’s plenty to me. After all, the reason they’re here, disciplining you, shows that they care for you and don’t want you to do anything that isn’t right.” The three fillies looked past her at their sisters and their ears folded back as they realised the truth in her words. “I never had anything like that.” At that, they looked to her in surprise.
“You didn’t? Wait, do you mean…?” Sunset just chuckled.
“Right, I guess I never did tell you much about myself, huh. Alright, sit down and prepare yourselves, ‘cause this is gonna be one Tartarus of a story.” She said as even her friends settled down to listen. “Well, I come from another Equestria. In this Equestria, Celestia is a princess well loved and respected by all. To be able to even just see her close up was a dream a little orphan like me could only dream of.” The Crusaders’ eyes widened at that fact.
“You were an orphan?” Scootaloo squeaked out as Sunset nodded.
“Yup, a dirty and starving little filly living in the busy streets of Canterlot.”
“W-What happened to your parents?” Sweetie asked softly.
“I never knew them.” Sunset said, a sad smile on her face. “Whether they loved me or not, whether they had wanted me or not, I have no idea, even until now.” She then shook her head, shaking off the thoughts. “Anyway, for a filly my age to be out on the streets like that was unacceptable, so it wasn’t long before somepony alerted the local orphanage and I was taken in as the newest addition. That didn’t mean my life became better though.”