"And after that," Sunset said with a sigh, "I helped her up and went home. Wallflower said she needed time to sort out her thoughts and I was emotionally exhausted. Obviously I didn't go to Fluttershy's since the girls all hated me again." Head falling backwards, she stared at the ceiling of the Principal's office. "Then I called you the next morning, you agreed to meet me at school, and here we are."
Principal Celestia nodded, as she had throughout the whole story. It had patched up a few discrepancies in the last few days, both in her own memory and in how she'd seen others behave around the school. "I see." It was an unhelpful statement to make, but she needed a few moments to process all the new information. Elbows on the desktop, she leaned forward. "Well Sunset, I can certainly understand why you thought this couldn't wait until after the holiday break. If nothing else, I'm glad you alerted me to another magical incident in the school as quickly as possible. I'm not sure what to do about this Anon-A-Miss, however. We can assist you in dealing with any instances of bullying, but you know how far that really goes."
Sitting back up in the chair, Sunset let out a quick, bitter laugh. "Yeah, I know better than anybody where the limits of your authority are. I spent long enough dancing around them." She took a deep breath - and shrugged. "I don't think there's much you can do, Principal Celestia. Right now it's just a couple of pieces of gossip and there's nothing rule-breaking about that, even if it hurts me." Running her fingers through her hair, Sunset let out a long sigh. "I'll live. I just have to figure out who Anon-A-Miss really is and hope that the girls will believe me once I expose them. Maybe things can still be fixed."
"So you have no leads? And Wallflower doesn't either?" Celestia tapped her chin thoughtfully as Sunset shook her head. "I can see your problem." She paused for a moment. Sunset raised an eyebrow. This was... familiar. Princess Celestia had acted this way sometimes, usually when she already knew everything, had a plan and was waiting for the right dramatic moment to spring it to action. "Do you think your investigation would work better if you had more help?"
Sunset didn't say anything at first - her mind was on trying to figure out what Celestia was up to. But eventually she was forced to fall into the same role the Princess had so often put her into when she was like this: walking blindly into the trap and hoping it would be the good sort, like a surprise party. "Yeah, I can't see how it would hurt."
"Excellent." Celestia smiled and Sunset braced. The Principal reached her hand over to her desk phone, turning it slightly so Sunset could see the front. One tiny green light shone on it - next to the intercom button. "Luna, I'm fairly sure Miss Shimmer has finished her story and you can unmute now."
There was a slight crackle before the Vice-Principal's voice came through the speaker. "I presume she looks confused, sister?"
Celestia's eyes flickered over to Sunset. "A little, but more anticipatory. I believe she's waiting for the other shoe to drop."
"Give it... ten seconds," Luna smugly suggested.
It was six before the door to Celestia's office banged open. And another three before a crying Pinkie Pie impacted Sunset, bowling her out of the chair.
"Close enough to ten," Vice-Principal Luna noted from the doorway.
Disentangling herself partially from the clinging Pinkie, Sunset turned her head to see her four other friends coming into the room - and Wallflower with them.
Principal Celestia smiled gently. "They called us shortly after you did. Apparently your new friend reached out to your old ones and tried to explain everything. We asked them to come in an hour before you, which is when Wallflower told us what she knew." Her smile sharpened, eyes gleaming. "She didn't mention you saying she was cute, however."
Sunset's face flushed red as her hair. "Wait, hold on! Focus!" Which was going to be difficult, given that Wallflower was also blushing and Rarity had a predator's look in her eye. Sunset's attention swung to her friends. "You.. you believe me now?"
"Kinda hard not to," Rainbow Dash quipped. "After a story like that?"
Fluttershy nodded, easing into the conversation. "Someone who wasn't our friend would have waited to destroy the stone."
"And we.. rather strongly suspected before that, as well," Rarity added.
Vice-Principal Luna glanced at the girls and then to Celestia. "I believe this would be an advisable time for the recording of the prior conversation?"
Celestia nodded. "I agree. It should address what I'm sure are a number of Sunset's questions and I know just the part to begin at. If you have no objections, girls?"
They didn't - the five Rainbooms nodded, and the Principal tapped a button on her phone.
Was the darnedest thing, really. One moment, we're havin' the usual start to a sleepover - Rainbow and Pinkie were arguin' over pizza toppings, Rarity was unpacking her third overnight bag, Fluttershy was triple-checking the locks to keep her brother out and Ah was texting Granny to let her know Ah'd gotten in just fine.
Then all of a sudden it was like somebody pushed a finger right into my brain an' wiggled it around. Ah probably don't need to tell you how it felt, Principal Celestia, since Ah'm bettin' you had something mighty similar when the memories caught up to you.
Ah think maybe it hit us harder than it hit you, since we've been involved a lot more close to things. All Ah can say is that all of us just sorta stood there for a minute or two, tryin' to sort out the mixed signals of what our brains were tellin' us.
Then Pinkie looks around at us all and her face just... falls. And in this mouse-quiet voice she says, "Oh."
Pretty much summed it up for all of us, really. We remembered what happened with Anon-A-Miss and how we treated Sunset. But we also knew how she'd been actin' the last few days, too. Ah think that's the moment we realized deep down that we'd messed up. It didn't totally hit us yet, but we all had that gut feeling. Ah could see it in everybody's eyes.
We spent maybe the next half an hour in a little circle, comparin' memories to make sure everything was in order and none of us had imagined any of it. It was magic so we had to be sure, you know? We'd just about agreed that our memories matched up when Mr. Shy came knockin' and said we had a friend at the door.
We opened it figuring that it was Sunset - and that's when we met Wallflower.
She slips in and she's this scared little thing - her eyes are lookin' everywhere at once and she's pulled into that sweater of hers like it's armor. But she still comes in and lets the door shut behind her.
Everybody's real quiet for a long, long second, 'cuz we've got no idea who this girl is but she's obviously got some things to say.
And then she asks us a question, real quiet-like. "Are you Sunset's friends?"
We all exchanged a look. Fluttershy answered her - "Yes?"
Then Wallflower's silent for a couple more seconds, like she's gathering herself up. Once she does, she looks at us again. This time what's in her eyes ain't fear or nerves. It's like she's got hot steel in her hand and she's tryin' to figure out if she's gonna quench it in the water or in our guts. And she says it again. "No. Are you Sunset's friends."
Ah tell you, Principal, the shame that hit me right then and there? Ah don't think Ah'll ever be able to forget it. Before, we'd all suspected. She said that and we knew. Clear as day, we knew.
Rainbow Dash, bless her stupid impulsive heart, was about the only one of us who could speak. An' she said just the right thing - what we were all feelin' in our souls. "We want to be."
Seems like that was the right answer, because Wallflower nodded and that heat in her cooled. She didn't ask us permission - she just sat down on the floor next to the door, legs pulled in tight to her. Not sure if she was bracing to run at the end of it or if she was blockin' our escape to make sure we listened. But Ah can tell you, none of us were gonna go anywhere once she started. "Okay. Here's what happened."
Principal Celestia tapped the button, stopping the recording.
Nobody said anything at first - the only sound in the room was a quiet sniffle from Sunset as she wiped her eyes.
Crossing over the space between them, Applejack held her hand out. There was a moment's hesitation. And then Sunset took the hand and was pulled to her feet. "Truth is, sugarcube, we messed up. After Wallflower told us her part, well. We talked it over for the rest of the night. Got a real chance to reflect on what'd gone on and how we'd acted. All Ah can really say is we got mad and made some mighty fool choices in the heat of it. Choices Ah know we all regret now. Every one of us owes you about as many apologies as we can fit between now and Revelations."
Still in a pile by Sunset's feet, Pinkie added her own two cents. "We made a huge mistake. Can you ever forgive us? Please?"
Sunset spent a long time silent, chewing her lip pensively. Then just as everyone started to shift with unease, she gave a little nod. "I can. I want to. This isn't something that I'm just going to..." Sunset briefly trailed off into an ironic chuckle. "Forget. I can't just say yes and make it all fine, just like you can't say sorry and make everything go away. But you five are still my best friends - you saved me from the monster I was." A smile rose on Sunset's dawning face. "You're worth a few bumps on the road."
Smiling back, Rarity mused an extension to Sunset's words. "Any relationship requires time and effort. You've done your share of that to prove you're our friend. I suppose now it's our turn to do the same and show we're yours."
The room warmed. Sunset's shoulders relaxed as the weight lifted away. "And I know a good way to start." She raised her finger at her friends and made a declaration. "As penance, none of you are allowed to do the thing anymore where you bring up something bad I did once and then say 'no offense'."
They looked between themselves - and then all eyes turned to the worst offender. Rainbow Dash shrugged. "Yeah, a'ight, that's fair. It was getting old anyway."
Sunset nodded firmly. "Good enough first step for me."
Laughing, the six friends embraced again. Perhaps not as normal, but closer to it then they had been.
Until Sunset cleared her throat and they all looked over. An amber hand reached out for Wallflower, all eyes following it. "What are you doing over there?"
The green girl blinked uncomprehendingly. "Um."
"You're my friend," Sunset noted with a smile. "And you saved these friendships, so I'm pretty sure you're our friend. So you're supposed to be in here too."
She hesitated. But the moment she took Sunset's hand, Wallflower's fate was sealed. She was pulled into the group hug - subsumed into Sunset's We.
After a solid embrace, they separated again. Or at least the five pulled away, leaving Sunset and Wallflower together. It took several more seconds for each to realize that it was just them - then as a pair they blushed and pulled apart.
Tried to pull apart. Rarity instantly had an arm over Wallflower and Sunset's shoulders as she swooped in. "So. Cute, hm?"
Sunset groaned. "Oh for the love of Celestia's dappled flanks Rarity!"
Across the room, Principal Celestia pouted devilishly. "My what?"
"Oh god," muttered Sunset. "Wallflower, please tell me there's enough left in the stone to end this conversation."
All of them - students and teachers alike - laughed with a mixture of relief and hope for the days to come.