That first day back at school, I was terrified. It had been one week since the Fall Formal, everyone was glaring at me as I walked to my locker. Well almost everyone. There were five girls that extended their arms out to me in friendship, and for that I am thankful. I doubt I would have made it through the day if they hadn't been there for me. But there was one thing that I had to take care of before I met up with my new friends.
The first thing I did was that I made it clear to Snips and Snails that they were to stay away from me as much as possible. This was mostly to protect them. I didn't want them victimized because of me. If any of us deserved forgiveness it was them. I had essentially bullied them into taking my orders. I probably bullied them more than anybody. I tried to explain that to them, but I don't know if they understood what I was saying.
"Look," I said, "I don't want you two to get hurt because of what I did, so I would appreciate it if you would stay away from me, for your own good."
"Why for our safety," Snails said, "are we in danger?"
"I'm afraid that the other students are going to go after you if they see you hanging out with me," I explained, "I'm not going to bully anyone anymore and I'm done being the 'Biggest Meanie', so please stay away from me for your own sakes."
"You have changed Sunset Shimmer," Snips said, "have you been replaced by a pod person?"
I had no idea what he was talking about and I didn't know what a pod person was. Though it wouldn't be long before Pinkie remedied that situation when we watched a bunch of horror films for Halloween.
After Snips and Snails went to their first class of the day my friends walked around the corner, each of them had a smiles on their faces.
"Wow, that was a pretty brave thing you did for those two," Rarity said, "I guess that they were the closest you had to actual friends before the Fall Formal."
"You heard that," I said, I could feel my cheeks turning a shade of red that likely matched my hair, "I'm just worried about them, that's all."
"Yes we did," Applejack replied, "and don't worry about them, we'll look after them."
"And we'll be subtle about it," Fluttershy added.
"You can count on it," Rainbow said. Then I noticed that the pink haired tasmanian devil of our group was missing.
"Where is Pinkie," I asked.
"Just follow us," Rarity said with a sly smile.
"Ok," I said nervously, I knew that they were planning something, but I didn't know what. They led me to the music room. I was surprised to see that both Luna and Celestia were also there. Luna's face bore a conspiratorial grin, while Celestia had the same confused look that I'm positive was plastered on my face.
They led the two of us into the darkened room. If I had been more sociable then I probably would have known what was going on. Needless to say, I was shocked when the light suddenly came on and everyone shouted "SURPRISE!"
My eyes darted around the room. Hanging from the windows was a banner that said "WELCOME BACK SUNSET!". There was a table set up with freshly baked breakfast muffins on it, they were so fresh that I could see the steam rising from them.
"Why did you do this," I asked quietly, "I haven't done anything to deserve it."
"Sunset, darling," Rarity said, "you never need a reason to celebrate your friends."
"Indoubitably,' Pinkie Pie said, "you looked like you needed a pick-me-up."
"And nothin' provides a better pick-me-up than one of Pinkie Pie's party's," Applejack said as she handed me a chocolate chip muffin.
I wanted to cry. No one had ever thrown me a party before. I had never known my real parents and the Princess had always been to busy. I was considered too young to attend the Grand Galloping Gala. I was about to say something when suddenly I felt light headed and found myself on the floor and everyone was standing around me with worried expressions on each of their faces.
"She's coming around," Rainbow said, "let's back up and give her some air!"
"What happened," I asked as I tried to stand up, only for Ms Celestia and Ms. Luna to hold me down.
"You blacked out dear," Rarity told me, "and without a fainting couch nearby."
"I blacked out," I repeated. I don't think that I had ever blacked out before, but it explained why I felt woozy and dizzy.
"You went down like a ton of bricks," Rainbow added. I winced at Rainbow's analogy, the front of the school was still surrounded by construction equipment and construction warning signs, and I had been responsible for it.
"Are you feeling okay Sunset," Fluttershy asked as she passed me a cup of water.
"I feel like my head was in an Appleloosan rodeo," I said. Everyone looked at me with uncomprehending eyes.
"Appleloosa is a town in Equestria known for it's annual rodeo," I explained as I slowly tried to sit up.
"Any idea what caused you to black out," Luna asked me, her voice was filled with obvious concern.
"If I had to guess," I said, "I think that I was overwhelmed, no one has ever thrown me a party before."
"WHAT," Pinkie Pie exclaimed, "not even a birthday!"
"I've been living on my own since I was eleven, remember," I said, "I never really needed to celebrate my birthday."
"So when is your birthday," Pinkie Pie asked. Foolishly, I told her.
"June 16th," I said, "that's what my records say, and as far as I can tell that's the closest to the Equestrian date."
"So not everything is a direct parallel between your world and ours," Celestia said. I simply nodded, in Equestria she was a nearly immortal goddess-princess that ruled the world's largest empire and held domain over the Sun, while in this world she was a high school principal in suburbia. Life loved to play jokes apparently.
Suddenly the warning bell rang.
"Girls you need to get to class," Celestia said, "Luna and I will escort Sunset to In-School-Suspension."
"Ms. Celestia," Rarity said after looking around the room, "we cannot leave this room a mess for someone else to clean, allow us to take care of it."
"All right," Celestia said, "I'll write each of you a note excusing you tardiness."
In-School-Suspension wasn't that bad. I was forced to surrender my phone, but it was an old cheap flip phone that didn't even have a camera. I sat there quietly doing the homework that had accumulated over the past week. The whole time I was under the ever-watchful eye of Vice-Principal Luna.
Eventually Luna took me to the cafeteria to get lunch. She stayed outside the cafeteria and chatted with Ms. Cheerilee and Mr. Doodle while I went through the lunch line and got my tray. That day, Granny Smith was serving meatloaf with mashed potatoes and gravy. I exited the line with my tray and the cafeteria became deathly silent. Everyone was looking at me. Mostly everyone was glaring at me, everyone except for my five friends. I knew that since I was in detention I couldn't find refuge with them. I began to walk toward the door where Luna was patiently waiting for me. I had taken about ten steps when I tripped over something, spilling mashed potatoes and gravy all over the front of my clothes.
"Sorry about that," Gilda said playfully, "I didn't see you there." I could hear the entire student body of CHS snickering at my plight. I knew that I deserved their ridicule and hatred. Tears streaming down my face I slowly stood back up and quietly and quickly left the cafeteria wearing what remained of my intended lunch. As I stepped out of the door I heard a voice say my name. I turned to look and saw five girls standing there.
"Sunset, we saw what happened," Fluttershy said quietly.
"Yeah," Rainbow added, "Gilda isn't going to get away with that."
Rarity reached into Pinkie's backpack and pulled out two blueberry muffins from that mornings little party and handed them to me. What surprised me was that they were still steaming hot and just as soft as they had been when they came out of the oven.
"I know that they aren't much," Rarity said, "but take these.
"Thank you," I managed to say, "please don't do anything to Gilda, that will only make my torment worse."
"If that's what you want," Applejack said, "then as your friends we'll respect your wishes."
Fluttershy reached out with some paper towels and tried valiantly but ultimately in vain, to get some of the potatoes and gravy off of my clothes.
"Come Sunset," Luna said softly, "it's time to return to detention."
I could see in her eyes that she knew exactly what had happened to me. I could also see that she knew that if she did something about it at that moment, that it would only make things more difficult for me. She led me away from the cafeteria in silence. My friends watched me from the doorway as I returned to detention, behind them I could hear the cafeteria roar with laughter.