//------------------------------// // Chapter 6 part 1 // Story: Ocean Blues // by TalkingToMyself //------------------------------// It's been four days since Anon-A-Miss started posting and the cafeteria has already turned into a war zone, Blue thought. Ever since I came here, everyone told me about the magic of friendship, and now look at them. Everywhere she looked, she saw students bickering and yelling at each other or their phones while others just laughed at their expanse and showed off the latest post from the Anon-A-Miss account. So far there hadn't been a serious fight yet, but not for a lack of trying. Sunset had been lucky that Blue was in the hallway when those idiots tried to gang up on her and her loud yelling got the attention of a nearby teacher. The only thing Dumbbell got for pulling a knife on a student was suspension so far. He would have seriously injured Sunset if not stopped, but it only made the other students more angry at Sunset instead. They aren't even looking for Anon-A-Miss any more, she thought. They already made up their mind that Sunset is guilty and the only thing that could get them pull their heads out of the gutter would be a miracle, or a disaster. She walked up the lunch line and watched the two girls in front of her yelling at each other while some guys behind her shoved into her. She turned around with a glare and they stopped immediately. Nobody had dared to attack her or even hassle her ever since the fiasco with Score and his brother. She didn’t look very intimidating with her short height, but the story on how she knocked the football player out with a single punch had left an impression. They didn't even accuse her of being Anon-A-Miss even once. Of course most people knew by now she didn't do MyStable or any social media, but Blue knew that was not the reason. They're just cowards, she thought and her bored expression turned into a frown. They know I would fight back and give them a piece of my mind. Sunset wouldn't fight any more, not after the Fall Formal and the Battle of the Bands. She was an easy target with just enough backstory for people to pick on her. So they left Blue by herself instead. Not even Anon-A-Miss posted about her. What could that fucker post about me anyways? I don't really make a secret about what happened any more. That coward just hides behind Sunset as their dedicated scapegoat. She picked up her lunch and glanced around the cafeteria. Almost all the seats were taken and the only free ones had yelling people nearby. She frowned when she noticed one table in particular. With a sigh, she headed towards the five girls, settling for the lesser evil of the hellhole. Rainbow Dash glared at Applejack and slammed her fist on the table "We need to do something to stop her! Just look at this mess she created." She waved her hand at the angry students all around "I know Dash, but what can we do? You heard what happened with Dumbbell. I don't want to think what he would have done with that knife." "I've never seen Sunset look so scared, not even after the Fall Formal. It's hard to believe a girl who back-stabbed her friends would be so frightened." "Don't let her fake tears fool you, Rarity." "I don't think they were fake any more..." "Oh, come on Fluttershy! Don't tell me you suddenly believe her?" "Well, can you tell me what she get from all this? If she wanted to turn bad again, why now? She had the best opportunity when the Sirens appeared, but she fought beside us instead." "She just..." Whatever Rainbow wanted to say, she stopped when Blue dropped her tray next to her on the table and took a seat "What do you want here?" "We're not going to listen to you defend Sunset Shimmer!" Blue rolled her eyes "Do you mind? I'm trying to eat here, just keep me out of whatever you're babbling about." Rainbow Dash glared at her for a moment longer but Pinkie Pie now chimed in "Blue's right! We don't have to talk about Meanie MacMeaniepants and let her spoil our lunch too! Even if Fluttershy is right." Applejack choked on her food and Rarity looked at her ingeniously "Whatever do you mean, Darling?" "I mean, ever since the Fall Formal she was trying so hard to be nice and she always helped whenever she could. And at the Battle of the Band, she shared the Magic of Friendship with us. She faked things before, but can you really fake friendship magic like that?" Rarity and Fluttershy nodded, even Applejack looked unsure, but Rainbow Dash just slammed her palm on the table again "Oh, come on! If anyone could fake that, it would be Shimmer. She's been playing the whole school for years!" "Yeah, but Twilight saw right through everything when she came here and she knows everything about magic. You really think Sunset could trick her as well?" Rarity nodded and tapped her chin "Pinkie has a point. Twilight would have done something at the Battle if she wouldn't trust Sunset. And she tried to show us her journal, which means Twilight still believes her. But still, there are pictures in the post that could only have come from her phone. The evidence is clear." "Because, nobody could like hack her phone or crack her password." Five pairs of eyes turned to Blue who was still eating "I thought you didn't want to contribute, Darling?" "Yeah, but there's a limit of bullshit I can take during lunch." "So all we say is phooey, huh? Then what do you know that we all can't see?" "Have you actually talked to Sunset? Given her chance to explain?" The looked at each other, and Rainbow had the shortest fuse "That bitch doesn't deserve it! After all she did when she was..." "Yeah, she messed up and now she's forever at fault. Once a bitch, always a bitch, right? Because people can't ever change, right?" Blue glared at each of them. Fluttershy and Rarity quickly looked away, Pinkie lacked her usual smile and looked very insecure. Applejack frowned in doubt as well and only Rainbow's fury seemed at bay. "You didn't even give her a chance to say anything, did you? People like you make me sick." Applejack narrowed her eyes, now it full defence "Now don't you act all high and mighty like that. You sent her away too!” “Yeah, because I didn’t want to get into any of this bullshit.” Applejack crossed her arms in front of her chest “What would you be afraid of? Don't you have enough skeletons in your closet as well?" "Yeah, that's why I know how easy it is to get framed for something. Once people start to believe you're a lost cause, they don't ask for reasons any more." Applejack looked away again, but Rarity caught on "What do you mean, framed? Are you implying that someone is using Sunset Shimmer as a cover?" "Duh!" Help came from an unexpected source as Pinkie Pie smacked her palm against her forehead "Why would Sunset use her own silhouette and her favourite colours in the profile? Even if she was a big old meanie again, she's not dumb!" "Sunset is smarter than all of us sitting here. If she was behind it, we wouldn't find out for weeks, if ever." Fluttershy nodded as Applejack made her point "If she was mean again, she would never take being bullied in the hallways." "And she wouldn't have gone after us. That would have been too obvious. She would have picked someone as far away from her as possible, just to confuse everybody." Even Rainbow Dash seemed to cave in by now "She ran away. I met her after third period and yelled at her. She looked so scared." "You did what?" "Rainbow, you yelled at her, just after another student threatened her with a knife?" "I didn't know that then! I thought she was faking tears for sympathy so I got angry." Rainbow hung her head down and stared at the table "But something was wrong. She never cried like that, not even after the Fall Formal. She said we wouldn't have to worry about her any more, then she ran away." Blue rolled her eyes and pushed her half-full tray away "You know, for people who kept preaching me about the magic of friendship for weeks, I'd expected you to at least give your friend the benefit of a doubt." "She's not our friend! She maybe never was!" "So what, Rainbow?" Now Applejack took her turn "Even if she was just a snake, we didn't give her a fair chance. We just jumped her with no real proof. That ain’t right." "And we were pretty mean to her." "We made her cry in front of everybody. Oh, I feel so awful." Blue rolled her eyes again “Well, it’s a little too late for that, right? Imagine how Sunset must have felt.” Fluttershy cried quietly as she did just that and even Rainbow Dash looked unsure now “Do you think we went too far with what we said?” “I reckon we have.” “Even when everybody bullied her after the Fall Formal, she still came to school every day, because at least she still had us. But now that we hurt her in such a terrible way…” Rarity trailed off and turned to Rainbow Dash “When did you yell at her?” “Um, after third period. I was on my way to the gym.” “And has anybody seen her since?” They shook their heads and Rarity turned more pale than usual “Oh my.” “You don’t think she did something, do you?” “I certainly hope not. But I remember the look of desperation she had when we sent her away. And that was before she was attacked.” Blue suddenly turned pale as well and gripped the edge of the table so hard that her knuckles turned white “Scheiße!” The other girls looked at her with wide eyes. They knew something must really worry her if she fell back into her native tongue all of a sudden “What’s wrong, Darling?” “The knife! When I knocked Dumbbell over, he dropped the knife but Vice-Principal Luna couldn’t find it anywhere.” Fluttershy gasped and jumped on her feet “Oh no! What if Sunset took it and…?” “Fuck!” Rainbow got up so fast her chair fell over “She said we wouldn’t have to worry about her any more before she ran away. Could she mean..?” That was all it took for the others to jump to their feet as well, ignoring all the stares they got from everyone around them. Rainbow started to run at full speed as soon as she was out of the cafeteria, but Applejack grabbed her “Slow down, Dash. Do you even know where to look for her?” “I’m sure she ran home! Come on, we’re losing time here.” “I reckon that’s the best place to start. We’ll take my truck.” Rarity hesitated for a moment and turned back “Somebody should tell Principal Celestia or Vice-Principal Luna. I’ll do that and then come after you.” Without waiting for an answer, Rarity ran off towards the office. The others got to the parking lot as fast as they could, but Fluttershy soon fell behind “Oh, we should have never yelled at her! We should have never doubted her! Why did we…?” “Shy, stop it.” Blue shook Fluttershy’s shoulder “That won’t help her now.” “Right. I’m sorry.” Blue tried to smile reassuringly, but it died away quickly. The drive to Sunset’s apartment didn’t take more than twenty minutes, but to the girls it felt like hours. Applejack gripped the steering wheel tightly to stay calm enough to drive safely, Blue on the seat next to her stared ahead blankly for the whole drive and said nothing. Rainbow Dash didn’t say anything either, but her face told of the guilt that was eating at her, even as she kept an arm around Fluttershy who had started crying silently. Pinkie Pie looked disturbingly serious, no trace of a smile on her face and her hair hanging down completely straight all of a sudden. She had tried to call or text Sunset on her phone, but with no success so far. Blue jumped out of the car before Applejack even stopped the engine, just like Rainbow Dash. They ran towards the doors of the apartment complex and Rainbow pressed the buzzer with Sunset’s name in a wild frenzy. The other three caught up and there was no response of the door, so Rainbow just pressed all the buzzers at once. They heard the beep from the door and Blue just pushed in, ignoring the voices from the speaker. By the time they reached Sunset’s floor, Rainbow froze in mid-step. Sunset’s apartment door was slightly open, as if someone had tossed it shut and not bothered to check if it was really closed. Sunset would never be that careless. Blue and Pinkie Pie rushed past Rainbow, not questioning their dumb luck. Pinkie Pie hurried to the back rooms, but Blue ran up the narrow stairs to the loft, where Sunset’s bed was. When Applejack, Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash ran in, they heard Blue’s panicked screams “Scheiße! Was hast du gemacht? Was hast du gemacht?” Fluttershy ran up next and nearly hurled over. Sunset was sprawled out on the bed, bleeding from cuts all over her arms. The knife was still in her right hand, but her fingers couldn’t hold it any more. The girl only twitched as Blue shook her, she seemed barely even conscious. “FUCK!” Blue kept shaking Sunset but didn’t get any reaction. Rainbow Dash screamed as well when she finally managed to get past Fluttershy, but Fluttershy couldn’t hear what she said. Applejack and Pinkie Pie tried to climb up the stairs as well, but Blue screamed down at them “Pinkie, go find a first aid kit or something! Applejack, call an ambulance, quick!” Pinkie Pie was the first to spring into action and ran to the bathroom in search of something that could help. Applejack pulled out her phone, but failed to unlock it three times before she finally managed to press the right keys. Blue was still screaming, this time at Sunset “Don’t fall asleep, you hear me! Don’t fall asleep!” She kept shaking the pale girl and barely heard her mumbles “Leave me alone.” “What?” Rainbow was at Sunset’s other side and grabbed her free hand “We’re not leaving you, Sunset Shimmer.” For a moment, Sunset’s eyes regained enough focus to recognize Rainbow Dash. Then, she suddenly started trashing around on the bed, kicking and flailing her bloody arms “I SAID LEAVE! LEAVE ME ALONE! JUST LET ME DO THIS!” Rainbow Dash backed away, both terrified and ashamed, but Blue grabbed both of Sunset’s shoulders and pressed her back on the bed, even as she yelled more and landed a few hits on Blue “Shut up! You can’t lose more blood so just shut up and hold still. Rainbow, for fuck’s sake, help me keep her still!” Rainbow hesitated but then grabbed Sunset’s ankles to keep her legs from kicking. Blue was still trying to keep her from flailing her arms around, but she only managed when Fluttershy grabbed her left arm and held it over Sunset’s head “Sunset, please. Let us help you.” Sunset seemed to recognize the voice and snarled out with venom in her voice “I don’t need your help! You all want me gone!” “No Sunset. You can hate us later if you like, you probably will, but right now, you need our help. So please hold still.” Blue grabbed her other arm and held it up as well to slow down the bleeding. Sunset had not reacted too well to her screaming, but Fluttershy’s voice seemed to get through to her. Pinkie Pie rushed up the stairs with a big first aid kit in her hands “I had to fetch it from one of the neighbours.” Blue watched as Pinkie ripped the package open and reached out for some bandages “Here, hold her arm like this, don’t let her move! Applejack, where’s that ambulance?” “On its way, but they said they need a couple more minutes.” “Scheiße.” Blue took the bandage from the kit and wrapped it around the largest cut on the left arm. She used some force to get it as tight as possible, and Sunset hissed in pain “Stop, you’re hurting her!” “Better than letting her bleed out before the ambulance arrives! Keep talking to her, Fluttershy. Don’t let her fall asleep.” Blue took another bandage for the next cut, and Fluttershy leaned down when Sunset whimpered from the pain “Sunset, I’m sorry it hurts but please, hold on a little longer. Help is on the way.” “Fuck… you…” Fluttershy cried when Sunset, even in her weakened state, still used the last of her strength to push her away “Sunset, you have every right to hate us for what we’ve done. We can’t make it undone, as much as I wish we could. But we can’t lose you either, not like this! You have to keep fighting, Sunset.” “Just… let me die already…” “No!” Sunset’s face lost all colour and she could barely keep her eyes open when Blue moved to the other arm. The dressings around the cuts didn’t look very professional, but at least they stopped the bleeding for now. Pinkie Pie watched carefully and whispered “Where did you learn that?” “From my sister. Dash, I think you can let go now.” Reluctantly, Rainbow did as she was told, but her eyes never left Sunset “Why isn't she moving?” “She’s in shock from the blood loss.” “How can you be so calm, Blue?” Blue just shook her head and finally, the heard some calls from downstairs “Up here! This way!” Applejack stormed in through the doors with three men from the ambulance right behind her. She pointed at the stairs and when the three men ran up, Rainbow and Pinkie Pie got out of their way “Holy shit, how did this happen?” Blue just pointed at the knife and the paramedic frowned. Without another word, they went to work. “Miss, look at me. Can you see me? Can you hear me? Miss?” “Low pulse. She’s in shock.” “She needs a transfusion as quickly as possible.” The medic nodded and turned to Blue as the other two moved Sunset on a stretcher “Did you clean those cuts before you dressed them?” “I was more worried about stopping the bleeding.” The doctor nodded “Okay, that was a good thought. Do you know her blood type?” “No.” Behind her, Rainbow and the others looked at each other with worry. Since Sunset was a pony from another dimension, they didn’t even know if she had the same blood types as them. “Okay, she’s going to the ER asap. We’ll take her.” “I’m coming with you.” Blue glared at the medic and he glared back, until he noticed the bloodstains all over Blue’s clothes where Sunset had hit her, and on her hands “Okay, but only you. Did you inform her parents yet?” Rainbow shook her head when Blue ran down the stairs after Sunset got secured on the stretcher. She didn’t know how to answer. Just as the ambulance with Sunset and Blue drove away with sirens and flashing lights, a white van stopped right beside the girls with screeching tires. Rarity jumped out from the passenger seat, followed by Principal Celestia and Vice-Principal Luna “Girls! Where is Sunset Shimmer? What was that ambulance? What on earth happened?” Applejack tried to explain “They’re taking her to the hospital. She had the knife and she tried to… she…” At this moment, Applejack’s mind caught up on what just happened and she lost the fight against her stomach. She barely had enough time to run to a nearby bush before she dropped on her knees and hurled out her lunch. The minivan with the principals and the Rainbooms reached the hospital with two more interruptions. Applejack had left her truck behind since her hands wouldn’t stop shaking. Celestia immediately asked about Sunset and was taken away by one of the nurses. Another nurse took the girls to a waiting area while Vice-Principal Luna was making a few calls on her phone. As they reached the waiting area, they found Blue already there. She still had Sunset’s blood on her hands and clothes and she was staring straight ahead without even noticing that the others walked in. Rarity, who had not seen Sunset yet, sat next to her and carefully put her hand on Blue’s shoulder, only to gasp when Blue’s empty gaze found hers “She’s still in there. The nurse wouldn’t tell me anything.” Rarity tried to hug her, but Blue roughly shoved her away. Rarity knew she didn’t mean it, so she only squeezed her shoulder for a moment before she asked the others to leave Blue by herself for now, gently guiding Pinkie Pie to the other side of the room. They sat in near silence, with only the occasional call from one of the nurses from outside. Vice-Principal Luna was the first to return, her expression was somewhere between concern, fear and seething anger “I’ve contacted your parents. They will come and take you home.” Rainbow frowned and stood up “We won’t leave until we know that Sunset will be alright again.” “Rainbow Dash, that is not open for discussion. As soon as your parents arrive, you will leave with them.” “Please, we just wanna know what happened to Sunset!” At this point, Luna’s face was only anger “Apparently, the five of you happened to her.” Fluttershy and Rarity started to cry again and Rainbow balled her hands to fists, but Luna just rubbed her temple and waved her other hand to stop them “And this is exactly why you’re going to leave immediately. We are all in shock and right now, neither you nor I can think straight. We will talk about this when I’m not feeling the urge to physically harm you any more.” The girls more or less saw some reason behind that and finally agreed. Luna nodded and walked over to check on Blue who was still sitting by herself. The girls couldn’t hear their mumbled conversation, so they whispered among another instead “Man, this sucks. I don’t want to just leave Sunset behind like that.” “Hate to tell you Dash, but we already did that.” “Applejack is right. Sunset would have never even considered this if we hadn’t right-way abandoned her like we did.” “But that doesn’t mean we have to leave her again!” Fluttershy looked down at the floor “I don’t think Sunset would want to see any of us right now. She hates us and we deserve it.” “Then we have to convince her we won’t do it again!” “How, Dashie? By promising her we’ll always stick together? Cause we already broke that promise. By telling her we’ll believe her from now on? Cause we messed that up too. By telling her she’s family? We did all of that and it didn’t matter at all. Why should she believe anything we say?” The other girls looked down in shame and Rainbow punched the closest wall “Dammit, Pinkie! Aren’t you supposed to be the optimistic one?” “It is hard to be optimistic when you lose a friend to a poorly made frame job.” “That’s it!” Rainbow spun around on her heels “We’ll find Anon-A-Miss! She’s guilty for all of this. We’ll find her and make her admit that…” “For land’s sake Rainbow, shut your god damned mouth!” The girls froze and looked at Applejack. Applejack never swore, but right now, the farm girl was way past her breaking point “It doesn’t matter who Anon-A-Miss is, or if we find her. Anon-A-Miss didn’t yell at Sunset or sent her away. Anon-A-Miss didn’t make Sunset try to kill herself! We did all this! We did! We did!” “Applejack?” In the entrance to the room stood Granny Smith and Apple Bloom with Big Mac behind them. The whole Apple family rushed to Applejack and gathered around her as the usually strong girl dropped to her knees in tears. Granny Smith and Big Mac just wrapped their arms around her, but Apple Bloom seemed deeply disturbed by the sight of her big sister crying like this “Applejack, what’s wrong? You sent Sunset away, right? She’s not gonna hurt you any more!” Applejack only cried harder “Bloom, she might be gone forever and it’s all my fault! If I hadn’t let that stupid nickname gotten to me like that, I might have stopped this before it even started!” “Who might be gone? What are you talking about?” “Allow me to explain.” Principal Celestia walked into the room, looking incredibly tired and nearly as furious as her sister was “Sunset Shimmer tried to take her own life with the same knife a student used to attack her. It is only by immense luck that she will recover from this.” Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie perked up immediately “Does that mean she’s alright? Can we see her?” A burning glare from Celestia silenced them quickly “You won’t be seeing her for a quite some time. While she will physically recover, there is no saying how much this has affected her mental health.” Fluttershy sighed deeply and nodded “Sunset is strong. She will come back from this.” Celestia’s glare focused on her next “That does still not mean that she will ever forgive you.” “I know, but that doesn’t matter. As long as Sunset is going to be okay, I don’t care what happens to us.” Celestia pinched the bridge of her nose in an attempt to calm herself down “We will discuss this at another time. For now, while her life is no longer in imminent danger, Sunset’s state is still critical. And we still have Anon-A-Miss wreaking havoc in our school.” The Rainbooms nodded one by one, even Applejack who was still kneeling on the floor and clinging on her grandmother. They were all relieved that Sunset would make it, but that relief was bitter and costly. Rarity’s mother was next to arrive, bringing Sweetie Belle along. Once they had been brought to speed, Sweetie Belle couldn’t stop crying even with her mother and sister trying to soothe her. Rarity knew her sister had always been a sensitive girl and focusing on her sister gave her something else to think about than her own guilt, even if just for a couple of minutes. “Rarity!” “Hush, Sweetie, everything is going to be okay again.” “No! Rarity, I need to tell you something! Please!” Rarity tried to smile for her sister but failed spectacularly “Go on, Sweetie Belle. I’m listening.” “I’m Anon-A-Miss!” “WHAT?” Almost everybody in the waiting room stared at the crying girl, except one “She’s lying! She’s not Anon-A-Miss, I am! I told Sweetie Belle and now she’s trying to cover for me!” “Apple Bloom? What are you saying?” Everybody started talking at once, but when Vice-Principal Luna spoke up, everyone fell silent again “It’s both of you, isn’t it? That’s why I found multiple IP-addresses connected to the account, from different locations in town. That’s why we had so much trouble tracking the signal.” The girls bowed their heads in shame and nodded “We’re sorry.” “Sorry? Bloom, have you any idea what mess you caused? The whole school’s at each other’s throat, Sunset nearly died and all you have to say is ‘we’re sorry’?” “Applejack, that’s enough now.” Granny Smith stepped in before Applejack could switch from bawling to brawling “You’re a mess, both of you, and ya can’t think straight right now. We’ll get you home and we’ll talk about all of this once your brain’s not in a fuzz any more.” “But Granny…” “No Applejack. Haven’t you seen enough pain for today?” “I… yes Ma’am.” “Good. Now move!” With that, the Apple matriarch herded her grandchildren out of the room. Rarity and her family followed shortly after, with Rarity glaring at her sister and their mother at both of them. Rainbow’s father arrived only minutes later and literally dragged his daughter out, unimpressed by the curses and threats Rainbow yelled at him, at Anon-A-Miss and at herself. Pinkie Pie followed her sister out next, her hair as flat and straight as Maud’s by now. “Scheiß doch die Wand an.“ Blue, who had been quiet through all the revelations, broke the silence once again. Principal Celestia rolled her eyes unamused “I don’t know what you said, but I think I’m right for telling you to watch your language, Miss Shore.” Only Vice-Principal Luna managed a quick smile to her sister. Fluttershy now sat on her own, unsure if she was supposed to cry or not. Everything had happened so quickly and crushed down on her like a tidal wave, but she barely felt anything at this very moment. Blue finally got up from her seat and stumbled towards the door, drawing Celestia’s attention back to her “Where are you going?” “Bathroom.” “Oh. Of course.” Blue looked like she had trouble walking straight and from her seat, Fluttershy could see she was leaning against the wall as she stumbled down the hallway “Um, Principal Celestia, may I go to the bathroom too?” “Of course, Fluttershy. We’ll tell your parents when they arrive.” “Thank you.” Fluttershy hushed out of the room and after Blue who was already out of sight. She walked into the women’s restroom but didn’t see her still. She walked past the stalls and saw Blue sitting on the floor, pressed into a small corner with her head leaning against the wall “Are you alright?” “No.” Fluttershy nodded and sunk down on the floor next to her. Blue didn’t seem to care, but Fluttershy noticed that the girl’s hands were shaking just like Applejack's about an hour ago. “Thank you.” Blue blinked and finally looked at Fluttershy “Huh?” “You knew what to do when none of us did. You saved Sunset’s life. Thank you.” “Shut up.” Fluttershy kept her eyes on Blue even when she returned to staring at the wall “I didn’t even know where she lives. You were the ones who went checking on her.” “And we wouldn’t have done that if you hadn’t made us see how wrong we were. You saved her.” “Shut up!” Blue shook her head and now was shivering all over “I’m sitting in a fucking restroom and try not to cry like a baby.” Fluttershy managed a weak smile “I started crying before we even saw Sunset. You’re not weak for crying about something terrible, but you are strong for holding it back so long. You were calm and told us all what to do. Nobody else could have done that.” Blue didn’t say anything and didn’t even look at Fluttershy, but now tears ran down her cheeks. Fluttershy gently put her hand on Blue’s shoulder, and this time Blue let her. They sat together for another few minutes, Blue crying silently and Fluttershy with her. “I can’t feel my butt any more. Come on, let’s go back.” Blue wiped her hands over her eyes and accepted Fluttershy’s hand as she helped her up. They didn’t say anything until they reached the waiting room. Fluttershy’s parents had arrived by now and quickly pulled their daughter close to them. They questioned her with hushed voices while Blue retreated to her seat in the corner. Fluttershy was still busy explaining all that had happened when another person burst into the room “Blue!” Fluttershy stopped talking and looked closely at the young woman. She was wearing nurse scraps and a nametag, so she must be working in the hospital. She had feint lime skin and her hair had many shades of green, from a dark pine to a turquoise sea green. She couldn’t be much older than twenty and about Fluttershy’s height, so she was taller than Blue. She rushed over to Blue before the girl could even stand up and wrapped her arms around her. Fluttershy couldn’t hear what they were talking about, but she saw Blue nod as she buried her head into the young woman’s shoulder. “Miss Spring Meadow? It’s nice to finally meet you in person. Even if I wish we had better circumstances for our first meeting.” “Hello, you’re Principal Celestia, right?” Spring Meadow kept her arms around Blue as she and the principals talked, even as they had to force themselves to stay somewhat polite. “Fluttershy? We’ll take you home now, okay? Do you want to say goodbye to your friend first?” Fluttershy blushed when she realized she had spaced out while watching Blue and her big sister “Yes Mom. I’ll be right back.” She walked towards the others and timidly spoke up “Um, my parents want to leave now, so I just wanted to say bye, if that’s okay?” “Of course, Fluttershy. Make sure to get some proper rest.” Principal Celestia replied curtly, Fluttershy could tell she was still angry at her, no wonder after all that had happened. Blue just nodded in her direction, barely able to do so, and Spring Meadow was still holding her and spoke up too “We have to leave as well, otherwise we’ll miss our bus.” “If you want, my sister and I could give you a lift.” Spring Meadow nodded to Luna with a forced smile “That would be great, Miss Luna. Thank you.” Principal Celestia hesitated and finally shook her head “Luna, I’m going to stay. I need to be here when Sunset comes out of surgery.” The two sisters looked at each other, and Luna nodded “I understand. Please call me once you have new information.” “I will. Thank you, Luna.” Everybody but Celestia left. Fluttershy tried to catch another word with Blue, but her big sister didn’t let her out of sight until they reached their cars, so all she could do was wave. Blue saw the wave but didn’t react as Vice-Principal Luna and Spring Meadow helped her climb into the van.