Despite all the glares and bumps, the day was going well for Sunset. She was delighted since it happened all in the previous days. She got adopted, had a girlfriend, and was able to make up with Applejack. Although she also had to talk with her mom and aunt yesterday about her nightmares and physical weakness, but she believed it was for the best. They are her family, after all. That thought brought a smile to Sunset's face. After all this time, she has a loving family. Currently, she was walking to the cafeteria. On her way there, she met Fluttershy.
"Um, Sunset. I wanted to ask you how yesterday went at Applejack's?" Fluttershy asked Sunset.
"Oh, it actually went pretty well, and me snd Applejack are friends now." Sunset happily said.
"Oh, that's great. Oh, and… I, um, I told Applejack about how weak you are now... Sorry, I should have asked first," Fluttershy said.
"Don't be, it's okay. I wasn't able to do much because of it. So, Applejack sent me to get some rest instead."
"Oh, okay."
When they made it to the cafeteria, they got their food and walked over to their usual table. Fluttershy took the seat next to Sunset, all the while Rainbow shot daggers at Sunset.
"Hey, y'all," Applejack greeted.
"Hey," Fluttershy and Sunset said simultaneously.
"So, you made up with Applejack, hmm?" Rarity asked.
"Y-yeah," Sunset said.
"Hmph," Rainbow said, annoyed.
"That's great. Ooh, I should throw you a 'Yay you are friends with Applejack now' party. Then I can throw 'You are friends with me' party, 'you are friends with Rainbow' party and…" Pinkie rambled on, despite Sunset's honest effort all she could make out was 'blah blah blah party' from Pinkie.
"Heh, you'll get used to that," She heard Applejack say while patting her shoulder. "Oh, I also told them about your… situation? Side effect?"
"Y-you… d-did?" Sunset asked.
"Of course, I don't hide anything from my friends," Applejack said with conviction.
"She's right, darling… why haven't you said anything about that?" Rarity asked.
"Um… I didn't see the point. Y-you weren't m-my friends then, and I didn't want to bother any of you."
"I. That's… I see, of course," a flustered Rarity said with a nervous smile.
"Aaanyway, are you free after school today Sunset?" Pinkie interrupted to ask.
"Sorry, what?" Sunset asked.
"I said, are you free after school today, Sunset?"
"Um… yeah, why?"
"Can you come with me after school? I have something to do, and I could really use your help."
"Um… okay?" Sunset said uncertainly.
Just then, the bell for lunch rang, announcing the beginning of classes. The group began to clear away the food from the table and made their way to the doors' trashes. The others waved their goodbyes as they split off down the halls to their respective classrooms. The next period for Sunset was art, with Fluttershy. They got their supplies from their lockers, which were conveniently in the same hallway, and made way to the art class.
"Hey, Fluttershy? What do you think Pinkie has to do after school today?" Sunset asked.
"Hmm. I don't know, but whatever it is, it has to be important. She never invites people unless it's something important, though she does classify a lot of things important, so I really don't have an idea," Fluttershy said.
"Maybe. But I can barely understand her."
"Hardly anybody can, I think her sister understand her, but I really can't tell you. You'll get used to it given time."
"If you say so, it's just, she can even do things that are physically impossible. That or the fact that she knows things that no one should possibly know, with the exception of maybe Discord," Sunset said.
"The chemistry teacher?" Fluttershy asked.
"What? No, he was, is... nevermind. Forget I said anything."
"Oh, okay. That's not all that's strange about Pinkie," Fluttershy said.
"There's more?" Sunset asked disbelievingly.
"Mm-hm, her hair is some kind of portal to another dimension. She literally pulls out things that can't be in it. And she can predict the future."
"Predict the future?"
"Yeah. Immediate future, actually. She calls it her 'Pinkie Sense', and it's very, very accurate," Fluttershy said.
"This is crazy," Sunset said.
"We just leave it alone. The saying Pinkie being Pinkie Pie is starting to catch on," Fluttershy said as they walked into the art class.
The day went on without any further incidents, and Sunset found herself following Pinkie down the sidewalk as they left school. She met her mom before leaving school and told her she's going with Pinkie before leaving. They've been walking for a while now, and Sunset was already getting tired. But when she looked at Pinkie, she saw she was still bouncing her way like she did since leaving school. She seemed to have an infinite well of stamina. She tried to ask her about that and remembered what Fluttershy said.
"Pinkie being Pinkie," She muttered. "Um… Pinkie, are we there yet?"
"Yepperoni, we are here." She said, stopping in front of a building. Sunset looked up at where Pinkie has taken her. Reading the sign brought back the oldest memories from Sunset's childhood.
"A-an orphanage?" She asked Pinkie.
"Yup. I sometimes come here and play with the kids, cheer them up. Some kids get really sad when no one adopts them," Pinkie said with a pained smile as her hair lost some of its poof.
"You don't say?" Sunset muttered bitterly before defensively asking. "And what does it have to do with me?"
"Well, I just like to get to know you. So I just thought I'll take you here, and we can hang out for a while." Pinkie said, still with her usual smile, but Sunset grew more agitated as she looked at it, swearing on Celestia that it was wider than normal.
After talking to the director, they went to where kids play, and Sunset saw kids running everywhere and playing games.
"Okay, now what?" Sunset asked.
"Join them and play with the kids, and see if they want anything, help them… smile." Pinkie said, bouncing away while emphasizing the word smile.
"Sure, have the one that spent her life studying and manipulating people play with the kids because that's such a good idea" Sunset walked away, muttering, looking at the kids.
She was never good with kids. She actually never good with any social interactions. So this situation was incredibly uncomfortable for Sunset. It being an orphanage, which was already hitting too close home, didn't help any either.
After trying to spend time with the kids, which involved trying to talk with or play with them, which failed miserably most, Sunset had enough. But she couldn't get a chance to talk with Pinkie and leave. While contemplating what to do, Sunset saw someone, away from the others. A girl with long white hair and light blue skin that looked no older than the crusaders. She was sitting away from others, alone, with a distant look. She looked closely at the girl's eyes and saw they look faded.
'Is she blind?' Sunset thought.
Walking closer towards the girl to look at her more closely. The girl's head suddenly turned a bit when she got near. It looked like she was trying to listen to her, which confirmed Sunset's thoughts.
"Um… hi…" Sunset nervously said.
"Hi?" The girl asked with a meek soft voice, which reminded Sunset of Fluttershy.
"May I… sit here?" Sunset asked.
"Um… sure." The girl said.
"So, uh, what are you doing here? You know, away from the others? Don't you want to hang out with them?" Sunset asked.
"I'd like to, but… they don't want to hang out with me," The girl said sadly.
"Why? Is it because…" The girl nodded. "I see. I can understand that I know what it feels like to be alone." Sunset muttered.
This caught the attention of the girl. "I'm Sunset, by the way."
"I'm Snowdrop. Nice to meet you." The girl, now known as Snowdrop, said. "And… what did you mean, you understand?"
"What?"
"S-sorry, if you don't want to talk about it-"
"No, no, it's okay." Sunset quickly reassured her. "I… I don't have a lot of friends either. I sometimes wonder if I have any. I had no one until just a few weeks ago."
"What do you mean, you are friends with Pinkie."
"I… I don't know… if we're really friends yet. I can kind of understand you because I was an orphan too, and I had no friends back then."
"Oh…"
"Yeah. So… How'd you like to be friends with me?" Sunset asked hesitantly.
"F-friends with you, Really? B-but… I'm blind," Snowdrop said.
"So? Even if you are blind, you just see in a different way, right? I don't see any problem with that," Sunset said.
"Really?"
"Yeah. Really," Sunset said with a small smile.
Snowdrop smiled before asking, "May I ask you something?" Snowdrop asked. "It's okay if you don't want to answer it."
"Ask away."
"When you said you had no one just a few weeks ago, what do you mean?"Sunset didn't answer right away. She took a moment before answering it,
"Exactly what it sounds like. I was all alone. Back when I was in the orphanage, it was hard for me to make friends. I tried again and again, but it never worked. Even the one person I looked up to as my mother didn't help me and turned me down," Sunset began. "So one day, I ran away. If no one wanted me around, I saw no reason to stay. Since then, I have lived alone. I attended CHS two and a half years ago. Since then, I-I kept everyone at arm's length by bullying them, I was the queen bee of CHS, and I'm the second most feared person of the school, the first one being the Vice-Principal." Sunset looked at Snowdrop and saw she was listening carefully to what she was saying.
"Then, one day, I tried to do something awful and almost succeeded. Luckily, someone stood against me and stopped me. She showed me the error of my ways. That was about two weeks ago. Since then, I've been trying to make amends with myself and fix everything. It's been hard, to say the least. The students at school hate me for what I have done, and they always glare at me or try to hurt me. But I might deserve them for what I did." Sunset sighed as a moment of silence passed. "Maybe I should go. You probably don't want to be near me now." Sunset said, getting up. But before she could take one step, she felt someone hold her arm.
"Wait!" Sunset looked down and saw Snowdrop Holding her arm. "Don't go,"
"You don't want me to leave?" Sunset asked.
"I… I know the past you was a bad person. But I can tell from the way you talk. You regret it. You regret everything. That means you want to be a good person. So, if you don't care that I'm blind, then I don't care who you were before. You are not that person anymore," Snowdrop said.
"So… you'd still like to be my friend?" Sunset asked, wiping a tear from her eye.
"Yes, I would," Snowdrop said. Sunset smiled and sat next to the girl. She held her arm and softly said, "Thanks."
While all these were happening, Pinkie was looking at them with the biggest smile on her face.