//------------------------------//
// Chapter 3 
// Story: Sirens of the Night: Sunset's Tale 
// by The Crazed Werewolf 
//------------------------------//

I tried to read the girls faces as they climbed out of Fluttershy's car. I couldn't tell whether they were upset, angry or sad. I wasn't sure if I could face all five girls at once. 

"Dontcha worry Sunset," Granny Smith said, "I'll be right here if you need me."

She must have been reading my mind. I sat on the sofa quietly while the girls be filed into the room. Big Mac graciously led Apple Bloom out of the room as everyone else found a place to sit. Somehow I ended up sandwiched between Pinkie Pie and Rarity. The six of us just sat there for several tense minutes before Rainbow Dash broke the ice.

"Yeah," Rainbow said, "this isn't awkward."

We all giggled at that remark. I didn't know where to begin with these girls. I had just tried to kill them the last time that I had seen them.

"Sunset," Rarity said, "Applejack has told us what happened. We would like to apologise, we had no idea that you would get hurt."

"You don't need to apologise," I said on the verge of tears, "if anything I should be apologising to you. I'm the one who destroyed your friendships."

"You may have started to drive the wedge between us," Applejack said, "but we should have communicated with each other better and realized that you were behind it. Instead we each let our pride get in between each of us."

I was a bit shocked to hear these words. They were saying that I wasn't entirely responsible for breaking them up, but I couldn't bring myself to believe it. I could still hear the demon laughing at me. Mocking me.

"If we had realized that you didn't have any place to live we would have invited you to join us earlier." Pinkie said, I hadn't noticed it before but her hair was straight, and her perpetual smile was gone. She looked kind of scary.

"I really didn't want anyone to know my living situation at the time." I replied.

"Um if you don't mind me asking," Fluttershy asked quietly, "what are you going to do now?"

"Fluttersy is right darling," Rarity said taking my hand into hers, "we can't allow you to go back to living on the streets like some vagrant."

"She won't be." a familiar voice said. We turned to look, and standing there in the doorway from the kitchen stood Principal Celestia. I wanted to run, she was the last being in any world that I wanted to face. Unfortunately Rarity was holding my hand.

"She will be coming to live with me and my sister." Celestia said, "I expect you girls not to spread that around the school, Sunset will have a hard enough time as it is."

"Principal Celestia," I managed to stammer out, "what are you doing here?"

"Mrs. Smith called me and explained the situation to me," Celestia said, "I am disappointed, disappointed that I didn't realize that you were homeless until now. You should have come to me."

At the time I thought that the sorrow that I heard in her voice was disguised anger. I later learned that she was angry, but she was angry with herself and not with me.

" What was I supposed to tell all of you," I cried, "that I was a magical pony from another universe and that I was seeking asylum? You all would have put me in an asylum."

"Sunset," Applejack said, "none of that matters now, we are all offerin' to be yer friends."

I looked at each person in the room one at a time. Each of them nodded at me. I had never had friends before. Even when I was dating Flash I only used him to get popular. I was sorry that I used him and I hoped that one day, he would forgive me.

"What do I do now from here," I said quietly, "everything has changed."

"Well you should return to school," Celestia said, "if you are now trapped in our universe, you should learn everything that you can about it."

"We should throw you a party!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed excitedly.

"I don't think that she's in the mood for a party Pinkie," Rainbow said, "she has been through a lot of stuff and I'm sure that she is still processing."

I was thankful for what Rainbow Dash had said. I couldn't have handled a party then, though Pinkie eventually got her wish of throwing me a party. Suddenly I couldn't hold the tears back any longer. I broke down into a sobbing mess, and in my current state of mind, I didn't care who saw me or who heard me. Luckily, it was only my new found friends and Principal Celestia. Rarity wrapped me up in a warm embrace.

"There, there darling," Rarity said, "everything is going to be better now."

"But I tried to turn the students at CHS into zombie slaves," I cried, tears streaming down my face, "and I almost killed you!"

"Sunset you didn't have any control over what you were doing," Applejack said, "once you put the crown on yer head the demon took over."

"But I've spent most of my life studying magic in all of its forms," I replied, "I should have known what was going to happen."

"No one can know all the possible outcomes Sunset," Celestia said, "that is what makes life worth living, the sense of discovery."

It was strange hearing those words come out of Celestia's mouth. If a certain pony princess had told me those words, I'd probably still be her student back in Equestria. I didn't realize it at the time, but subconsciously, I think that I was starting to realize that Princess Celestia and Principal Celestia were two different beings.

"What now?" I asked.

"Why don't you grab your belongings and I'll help you get them in my van," Celestia said, "and then we can go to my house and get you settled in."

"All I have are what I'm wearing," I said quietly, " my few other belongings are at the gas station."

Celestia looked at her watch, and then she glanced out the window. Which caused the rest of us to look. The Sun had already set for the evening.

"It's too late to head over there now," Celestia said, "how about we go there after school tomorrow."

And with that, Celestia led me to her van. Little did I know it, but the night wasn't yet over.