After they left her, Twilight’s friends went back to their suite in the castle, their eyes lined with bags from lack of sleep.
“Ah! What a night!” Rarity exclaimed.
“Yeah, I just wanna lie down!” Rainbow Dash said as she folded her wings and fell onto her bed.
“Rainbow Dash! You should really wash yourself before you go to sleep!” Rarity lectured. “You’re all sweaty from the fighting and that filthy prison!”
“Eh, the servants can just wash the sheets you know,” Rainbow scoffed. “That’s what they’re for.”
Rarity frowned. “You shouldn’t make any pony do more work than they have to!”
“Says the pony who always brings so much baggage everywhere she goes!” Rainbow Dash countered. “On our way up here you had that poor Porter Pony carry all your suitecases, and I heard him say “I hope she doesn’t come to the castle all the time, she always makes me carry a mountain!”
Rarity gasped. “I bring everything I need!”
“Well what I need right now is a good long nap!” Rainbow Dash said. “So be quiet. Whoa!”
Suddenly Rainbow Dash was pulled by her tail out of bed by Applejack.
“We could all use some sleep. But Rare is right, we could use a little cleaning up first.”
They all went into their showers, which was refreshing to feel the hot water on their coats and the soap washed all the dirt they’d acquired from the prison away. After that they climbed into bed and woke up after three in the afternoon.
“Is everypony hungry?” Fluttershy asked. “I’d be happy to make something!”
“That sounds lovely darling!”
“I vote for pancakes!” Pinkie said.
“Very kind of you Fluttershy,” Rainbow Dash said.
“After that we can tell Twilight everything!” Applejack said.
The other four looked at her.
“No! We can’t tell her!” Rainbow Dash said. “We don’t know if she’ll forgive us again!”
“If we don’t tell her and her memory comes back she is not gonna forgive us for sure than!” Applejack countered.
“Um… maybe we should tell her the truth and then… tell her to find new friends?” Fluttershy asked.
“What?” Pinkie Pie exclaimed.
Fluttershy rubbed her foreleg with her hoof. Tears began to appear in her eyes as she remembered how she, the element of kindness, walked away from a crying friend rather than comforting her. True, Twilight had upset somepony, but she had had good intentions, trying to protect her brother from somepony she (correctly) assumed to be harming him. Fluttershy should not have simply walked out on her. Two wrongs do not make a right.
“Ask yourselves this, girls,” Fluttershy said. “Do we really deserve Twilight’s forgiveness?”
They all thought back to their awful act of leaving their friend at the rehearsal. They had been selfish, vain, and cared more about this wedding than said friend. It was truly unforgivable.
“We don’t. We put the party before her,” Pinkie said.
“She has been in a lot of danger, and we could have prevented that if we’d just listened to her. If we’d stood by her she never would have been sent to those caves, or bitten by Chrysalis! And then Celestia would not have turned into Daybreaker and burned half of Canterlot to the ground!” Rarity said. “We not only hurt our friend but cost a lot of ponies their homes, or even lives!”
“Some protectors of Equestria we turned out to be,” Rainbow Dash said. “Maybe we should resign as the element bearers as well?”
Applejack sighed. “Maybe we don’t deserve to be Twilight’s friends. But we can’t end our friendship. That has to be her decision when we tell her the truth. We don’t want to hurt her more than we already have.”
There was silence, than everypony agreed.
“Alright, we tell her the truth and say that if we wants to stop being friends… we… we understand,” Rarity choked out as tears escaped her eyes.
Applejack nodded. “Let’s eat.”
Fluttershy and Pinkie made the pancakes in less pleasant moods than they would have otherwise. They ate silently than decided it was time to tell Twilight.
“Do any of y’all know where Shining Armor’s house is?” Applejack asked.
They all shook their heads.
“Let us… ask a royal guard,” Rarity suggested.
They headed downstairs and found a pair of Royal Guards in front of the Castle doors.
“Excuse me good sirs, but could you be kind enough to escort us to the home of your captain. You see, we’re best friends with his sister,” Rarity explained blinking her eyes at them.
The royal guards gazed at her expressionlessly for a moment. But Rarity was such a raw beauty that all their discipline melted away and hearts appeared in their eyes.
“This way my lady,” they said, abandoning their posts to lead them there.
They came to a house with a shield and crossed swords above the door. The guards grinned at Rarity who offered them a smile.
“Thank you, good sirs.”
“We are happy to help any pony in distress,” one of them said. “By any chance, would you be free tonight?”
“Back off Macerunner! I helped her!”
“I helped her too!”
“I was more helpful!”
“How? We both lead her here!”
The two guards continued to bicker while Applejack approached the door to the house and knocked. Shining Armor answered the door. His parents as well as Twilight and Spike were inside as well.
“Oh, y’all worked everything out?” Applejack asked.
Shining nodded. “Everything’s fine between us and mom now.”
“Hey girls!” Twilight said.
Applejack stepped forward. “Twi… there’s something we need to tell you. It’s about the wedding rehearsal.”
As she neared Twilight’s seat, the lavender unicorn put a hoof over the orange Earth Ponies mouth.
“I know already, Applejack. Shining Armor told me everything.”
“You’re not mad at us, Darling?” Rarity asked.
“From what I’ve heard, it seems I forgave you already. But if you hadn’t told me in say a week, I probably would have been mad.” Twilight said. “We all make mistakes. But what’s important is that we learn from them and try not to repeat them.”
“Twilight, we made a big mistake leaving you at the rehearsal. We should have been there for you. We could have lost you to the caverns, or the Queen’s poison, or Daybreaker!” Rainbow Dash said. “I swear as the element of Loyalty I will stand by your side and rush to your rescue whenever you might be in danger!”
“We’ll make it up to you, Darling!” Rarity promised.
“Girls, girls. Its okay. How many times have I told you I forgive you anyway?” Twilight asked.
“Not enough!” Pinkie Pie said. “Its not about you forgiving us, Twilight! Its about us forgiving ourselves.”
“And that’s gonna take some time,” Applejack said. “What we did was really… really bad.”
“Well, time can heal wounds,” Twilight said. “But I think you’ve probably apologized to me enough.”
Velvet sighed. “I should probably apologize to Princess Celestia for slapping her.”
Spike suddenly burped out a letter. He opened and was shocked by what he read.
Dear Twilight Sparkle, I write this letter with a heavy heart. My time as Daybreaker has come to an end. As has my time to be Equestria’s ruler and your teacher. I have caused great harm to both you and my other subjects, burning Canterlot to the ground and trying to steal you as my own daughter. I think it would be best if Luna ruled Equestria alone now as I did. It has been my honor to rule, and an even greater honor to be your teacher. But now I must say goodbye.
Princess Celestia.