"Have ya lost yer damn mind?!" Applejack almost shouted at the girl with a mix of shock, confusion, and anger.
Applejack and a girl were in a heated quarrel that almost radiated off them and lifted the room's temperature. Their friends were looking on with Fluttershy hiding behind her bag. If she was smaller she would've crawled into it and closed it.
"No, I haven't! Sunset is innocent, I just know it. You should as well, Element of Honesty." the girl responded, spitting the last part out like it was laced with poison. "You didn't even try to listen to her. And you completely blew up when she just suggested that it could've been your sister."
"Don't ya even dare! Apple Bloom would never have done such a thing." Applejack snapped. "Are ya even listening to yourself right now!?"
"I do, and I know perfectly well what I'm saying!" the girl snapped back. "It is you who's in denial!"
"Ah ain't in no denial! If not Sunset, then who could possibly be behind this?!" Applejack practically roared. "Ah can't even understand where in hell ya got that idea!"
Their argument continued on and on with no natural end in sight as the minutes ticked by. Their friends tried on multiple occasions to break them up, but they weren't even acknowledged and any attempt at intervention only seemed to spur them on.
"Sunset trusted us, she was our friend!"
"She was lyin' to our faces from the first day! She never considered us her friends!"
"Yes, she did! We were her friends. Aren't friends supposed to stay together and support each other instead of pinning blame?!"
"Not with a backstabbin' vermin like her! She was most likely plannin' to humiliate us like this from day one! How can ya even be sad she's leavin'?!"
"You tell me! How would you feel if I decided to leave?!"
Sunset couldn't believe her own eyes. Right in front of her, in a Crystal Prep uniform, was one of her former friends. For a short moment, she thought she was seeing things, but the look of this girl was unmistakable. She had never met anyone with a look even close to resembling her.
Had it been any other place under any other circumstance she would most likely already have been swearing up a storm, but the sheer unlikeliness and the sudden appearance was enough to leave her speechless. She couldn't get anything out, it was as if her vocal cords had completely shut down.
The girl looked away as she handed over the book, which Twilight took. The girl rubbed her arms as tears began to form on her face as she averted her eyes to prevent eye contact.
"I'm sorry... I'm not ready yet." Her voice was borderline whispering as the words barely registered, a few tears began to roll down her cheeks before she squeezed her eyes shut, turned around and ran off, not daring to look back.
Sunset was still in shock as she continued to stare in the direction the girl had run off to, she only snapped out of it when Twilight tapped her shoulder.
"Huh?" was all that came out of her mouth as reality came back to her.
"Are you okay Sunset? You zoned out there," Twilight explained as she tugged slightly at Sunset's arm to get her to follow to her lab, which took a few moments.
"Y-yeah, I'm alright... I just didn't expect to see her here" Sunset answered as she followed after Twilight, still in shock over what just happened. 'Out of all people, why is she here?!' she thought to herself.
"Who was that girl anyway?" Twilight asked curiously as they made their way towards her lab.
"Remember those old friends I talked about? She was one of them." Sunset answered.
"Oh..." was all Twilight could say as they fell silent while walking down the corridor.
The girl had barely gotten around a corner before she felt as if her legs gave in and she sat down by the wall, hugging her legs. The tears were now streaming down her face as she struggled to control her breathing.
'It's too sudden, I can't face her, but now she knows I'm here. At this rate, I'll never get to apologise. I'm such a coward, I couldn't even look her in the eyes.' her thoughts spun like a raging storm as her tears flowed like a raging river. 'Is this what it feels like to hit rock bottom? They say you can only go up from that point, yet I feel I can still fall further down.'
She continued to cry for several minutes not registering anyone that tried to approach her until a familiar voice made itself known.
"Hey, you're going to be late, you know what happens if the teacher finds out..." The girl looked up and locked eyes with her classmate.
"H-hey Indigo..." the girl croaked out.
"What happened?" Indigo said as she came over and crouched down in front of the girl.
"N-nothing, just tell the teacher I'll be late for class, please?"
"The way you're crying doesn't seem like "nothing" to me," Indigo said before letting out a sigh. "Look, you gotta do it soon, she knows you're here now as well."
"I know... I just... need some time." the girl said as she rubbed her eyes trying to stop her tears.
Indigo sighed once more as she stood up. "I'll let the teacher know. Try to hurry up at least."
"Thanks, Indigo... I owe you." The girl answered.
"Anything for a friend. See ya around!" Indigo said as she began to walk away. but before she rounded the corner she turned around. "Although, if it doesn't get better, you should take the rest of the day off."
"No, I'm fine, but thank you for the advice." the girl answered as she forced a smile.
Indigo easily saw through it but decided not to press it, she rounded a corner and for a short moment, she leaned against the wall and listened to the sniffles of the girl before sighing once more as she headed to class.
'I just hope you know what you're doing, Rainbow Dash.'