“Sunset, is that book buzzing?” Autumn asked. Dusty, Sunset, and Autumn were on their way to Chrystal Prep, Autumn was sitting in the back. The only reason Autumn hadn’t been at school was that the roads into where she lived hadn’t been cleared and there were few bus routes running.
“Oh, let me have that, that’ll be Twilight,” Sunset replied. She was a little unsure if she should, but it was the first time Twilight had answered since telling Sunset to find her family.
“Twilight? As in Twilight Sparkle Super-nerd?” Autumn asked as she reached into the back to retrieve the large tome.
“Um no, different Twilight… not that my Twilight couldn't be considered a nerd herself,” Sunset offered with a smile as she took hold of the book. “Kind of a toss-up which one of us was the bigger nerd when we were younger.” Opening it to the last page where the unmistakable signs of a frantic Twilight could be seen forming. “I’ll explain later.”
Sunset quickly skipped a few lines and then replied that she was alright and that everything was going to work out. Listen, Twilight, there was someone at school doing the same sort of thing the Dazzlings were doing, only they were considerably more clandestine about it, Sunset wrote. They had an artifact of some sort.
“That is some cool shit there,” Autumn offered as she watched text appearing on what looked to be an ordinary page.
“Do please have a care what you say,” Dusty admonished.
“Sorry.”
“I don’t mean just the swearing, don’t be telling anyone about that book.”
“The existence of this book needs to remain strictly confidential,” Sunset cautioned.
“It’s an artifact, isn’t it?” Autumn asked.
“Technically, so am I. The feds know. How much they know I couldn't begin to know, but they know a lot more than I’m comfortable with. The plus side is they aren’t exactly comfortable with others knowing.”
“Don’t worry, the last thing I want is to cause you more misery than you’ve already had to endure.” Autumn offered as Sunset began to write.
Twilight, to tell the truth, I don’t know how long. Let’s just say that when I first got here, just the shock from what I’d done, the position I’d put myself in was enough to straighten me out. I started making friends for real. I was a nobody. No one knew me, who I was, or who I had been. When I was discovered by Princess Celestia I was quickly adopted by a Prince Azure Platinum which I now know was both a blessing and a curse. I had everything I wanted, except true friends. Ponies wanted to know me for the connections I had. Not for me. People genuinely wanted to know me for who I am. I don’t really know what went wrong. I don’t know why I went back into my old manipulative ways. At first, I just wanted to reign in trouble makers. Everything I did leading up to the Fall Formal and during, I just don’t know what I was thinking. It’s not like I really stood to gain a whole lot and the idea of taking over anything with a bunch of zombified students was pure folly. I lost myself and behaved in a way that just wasn’t me.
Twilight, because of Anon-a-miss, I just feel that there is no longer a place for me at Canterlot High. No, don’t be too hard on them. The thing is, I’ll never know how much was their own choice and how much was outside influence. Pardon the metaphor, but there’s been too much water under the bridge. Also, I think you should know that there were a lot of people taking advantage of the situation to make me as miserable as they could. It was like what I’d done at the battle of the bands didn’t even matter. Too many people just wanted an excuse to get back at me for things only they could possibly understand.
No, I don’t think the Rainbooms were my friends. I tried, but I can’t say they were ever truly my friends. They were just doing you a favor. A friend is going to stick by no matter what. If they’d stuck by me they’d have known soon enough that I was innocent. I do have a friend though. I hadn’t even realized it until she got dragged into the police station this morning. It was for my sake. I was there to file charges against the thugs who beat me and trashed my apartment. Her Name is Autumn Blaze, She'd been arrested for trying to retrieve my guitar from the people who trashed my place. She and I, we sometimes busked together or played in a band at clubs that would have us. That’s how I was supporting myself after I left my foster family. Granted that they were supporting me, and dad was supporting me without my knowing it. Yes, I seem to have a dad here. His name is Dusk Shimmer. But even with their support I still needed a little extra income. Autumn knew there was no way I could be Anon-a-miss because the individuals behind the blog knew nothing about her and the others in the neighborhood where I lived. Some of whom were at Canterlot High. Their secrets never got spilled either. Something that never even occurred to me. Anyway, she goes to Chrystal Prep and we are on our way over there. Who was Anon-a-miss? Afraid the ones who started the Blog were the members of the Classic Movie Club. Applejack and Rarity's little sisters. Yes, the CMC. You’d have to ask them, just don’t be too hard on them. I doubt they understood what they were doing because I refuse to believe they could be so vindictive. Listen, we are arriving at the school now so I’ll sign off, goodbye for now and I’ll let you know how things go. Just one thing more, the government here knows far more than I’m comfortable with but that’s something we’ll need to talk about in person. Signing off now, your friend, Sunset Shimmer.
Princess Twilight closed up her copy of the two-way diary, levitated it up to its slot above a large mirror. She penned a quick note to Princess Celestia and got Spike to send it.
Once she’d done all that she needed, she looked up at the mirror, let out a sigh, set a determined look on her face, and stepped into the mirror as though stepping into a pool of liquid silver.
Twilight stepped out of the pedestal for the Canterlot High statue. A statue that was no longer there as it had yet to be repaired. She looked around to discover a number of aggravated parents taking their sons and daughters home even though it was mid-day. Spike was not with her on this trip owing to what Sunset had said about the government knowing too much. Spike would stay at home and guard the door. If any unexpected guests showed up he was to deliver them to the Canterlot dungeons.
Twilight shivered. She’d the forethought to grab a jacket and scarf, but it was still bitterly cold. She straightened herself out and headed for the front door of the school. Several individuals looked her way and then hung their heads as she went inside.
“Twilight? I, um, hi,” Flash offered awkwardly on seeing her. He’d been right near the entrance.
“Flash, by any chance have you seen the Rainbooms?” Twilight asked a bit harsher than she’d meant.
“They’re in the cafeteria,” Flash offered. “Twilight, I’m sorry.”
“Et Tu, Flash?”
“I didn’t,” He protested weakly. “I didn’t do anything really. I’m only now realizing what a mistake that was.”
“So long as good people stand by in silence evil will prevail,” Twilight offered, and continued towards where she hoped to find the counterparts of her friends back in Equestria.
Twilight slowed down only briefly on seeing Sunset’s locker. The locker not only had the words ‘She Demon’ painted in spray paint it looked as though all the hate and anger in the school had been poured out onto it. The door was open as well with all manner of refuge dumped on the books within. Twilight shuddered, and then hurried on.
Twilight pushed the doors open to the cafeteria and entered into the subdued atmosphere. Nor could she miss the fact that a lot of students were gone. She slowed her pace as she walked further into the room. On seeing the girls she went over pulled out a chair and sat down without saying a word.
No one noticed her join their group.
“Sunset tells me you were never truly her friends. Is that true?” Twilight asked after she’d been sitting there for a couple of minutes.
All five girls nearly jumped out of their skins.
“Twilight?!”
“Twilight, darling, did you come to help us fix the mess we’ve made? Please tell us you come to fix the mess we’ve made,” Rarity pleaded.
“You know what? I don’t think it can be fixed,” Twilight scolded.
“You’ve, ah, talked to her then?” Applejack asked. “We, um, might have deleted her phone number from our phones.”
“I didn’t,” Fluttershy offered meekly.
“Not in person, no. Just via the diary. And it would seem that if this world’s version of her father hadn’t have stopped her from stepping off a bridge she’d have been gone. For good,” Twilight stated. “It’s kind of hard to fix relationships after something that permanent.”
“You know what,” Dash began. “The way I see it, she was the one giving us a chance and not the other way around. Hell, half the things we thought she’d done was the CMC manipulating us for their own benefit.”
“And we fell for it every time. Scootaloo is sort of Sunset’s half-sister too,” Applejack offered. “And my cousin. They have the same mom. At least in this world. Granny pulled me aside to update me on what got spilled when they had their talk with the trio. Not entirely sure why no one said anything other than Sunset just wouldn't have known who anyone was when she first came here and no one wanted to push their luck. They did have a fairly close relation for a while. Don’t rightly know what happened?”
“What?” Twilight asked stunned.
“Great! Just Great!” Dash groused bitterly. “Twilight, before we met you I did something really stupid. I was running with a gang and tried to bring Scootaloo into the gang.” Twilight wasn’t exactly sure what a gang was but was fairly sure it wasn’t something good. “After all that she still wanted to be friends and I threw it back at her the first excuse I got. I’m what happened.”
“You didn’t just throw it back at her,” Twilight began. “You made me a promise. All of you made me a promise. The fact that Sunset didn’t do half the things you thought she did just makes it worse. And yes, I made assumptions about her too. I wanted everything to be good versus bad. Sunset took my crown, which made her the antagonist. And in hindsight, it doesn’t make a lot of sense for her to do everything she did. She knows too much about magic to think she’d be able to freely use a magical artifact like that.”
“Bringing it back here don’t make a whole lot of sense neither,” Applejack offered.
“True,” Rarity replied. “After all, what’s a bunch of zombified high school kids going to do to an army?”
“Not much,” Pinkie offered. “It’d be just like when all the Feds showed up and snatched that girl away this morning. You should have been here, cars, trucks, a helicopter – it was so exciting!”
Dash face planted on the table. “And I missed the whole thing because I was mad at everyone!” She then raised her head and brought it down again several times saying dang-it with each impact.
“Dang-it!” thump.“Dang-it!” thump.“Dang-it!” thump.“Dang-it!” thump.“Dang-it!” thump.
“You about done there, Sugarcube?” Applejack asked.
“Dang-it!” thump. “OK, I, maybe, ya that’s enough. Then again, maybe not. Think I’ll take up the goalie position, ya that’ll do it.”
“I really don’t know how to fix things. Sunset doesn’t believe any of you were ever truly her friends,” Twilight offered. “She thinks you were just doing me a favor. Were you just doing me a favor? I trusted you to look after her.”
“But I am, I am her friend.” Fluttershy protested softly. “But I wasn’t brave enough to speak up when it mattered most. Twilight, please, please tell her I’m sorry. I tried calling but she never answered back. Do you know where she is now? I called the hospital this morning and they said she’d already left.”
“On her way over to Crystal Prep.”
“Crystal Prep!?” they all echoed.
“We have to stop her,” Dash proclaimed.
“And do what? Drag her back here against her will?” Twilight shouted at Dash. “Sunset said there were people who took advantage of the situation. Were there?”
“Yes,” Applejack admitted. “You probably saw a few on their way out on your way in.”
“A whole party boat full,” Pinkie added sounding dejected.
“And you want to bring her back into that kind of an atmosphere,” Twilight asked. “Have you seen her locker? Have you? They destroyed books! BOOKS! Innocent Books!”