//------------------------------//
// Chapter 31 
// Story: Severed Ties 
// by Carol Heart 
//------------------------------//

Twilight found herself lurking under the bleachers in the CHS gym.  She had snuck in among the wave of maroon tartan that had entered and quickly secluded herself away from the staring eyes.  The Canterlot High students had stared awkwardly at the new arrivals as they entered the red and gold bedecked gymnasium.  Hundreds of eyes searching the Crystal Prep students hoping for a glimpse of someone they both hoped and feared to see again.	
After the incident at the Canterlot Mall, of course Twilight suspected that word would have spread through Canterlot High, especially after what Sunset had told her about her pony princess counterpart.  Everyone in the room was probably on the lookout for her now, knowing what she was up to.  What was she supposed to do now?  How in the world would she be able to find Pinkie Pie in this crowd?
She took a deep breath and stepped further under the bleachers until her back struck something.  Except what she bumped into was not the cold hard cinder blocks she would have expected. This was a warm squishy impact that could only be that of bumping into another person.  Before she could yelp, a pink hand clasped itself over Twilight’s mouth.  Surprise and fear gripped the nerdy girl as she remembered so many other instances like this and the pranks that came along with it.  
When she was spun around, however, she was met by a bright pair of baby blue eyes.  With a finger to her lips, the new girl whispered, “Shh!  If you’re trying to be sneaky, I’ve recently learned it means not being seen and being quiet...or else you end up running twelve blocks wearing a skirt made of a bush and let me tell you, those branches can really chafe.”  Removing the hand from Twilight’s mouth, she instead extended it to the bespectacled girl with a warm smile, “Hi!  I’m Pinkie Pie.”
The genius of Crystal Prep stood there utterly baffled.  Was fate really being that fortuitous that she had quite literally just bumped into the one girl she was looking for?  Sunset had warned her that Pinkie Pie always seemed to have a sort of magic of her own even before gaining access to Equestrian magic.  Casting a wary eye over the girl, she did seem to fit the description of the unicorn’s former friend, though she had expected Pinkie's hair to be more poofy.  
Extending a hand cautiously, Twilight replied, “H-hi, I’m Twilight Sparkle.”  Taking the offered arm, the bubbly girl proceeded to shake it so forcefully that it knocked out Twilight’s bun and caused her glasses to slip off.
“I know,” Pinkie replied matter-of-factly, “You look just like my friend.  Her name is Twilight, too.”  
It took the prodigy a moment to realize what this conversation meant.  “Wait, you know I’m not Princess Twilight?”
“Oh, yeah, as soon as I saw you,” Leaning in to whisper conspiratorially to Twilight she added, “Though I bet you could pass for her twin.” 
“Then how did you-”
“You’re obviously the Twilight from this world since you couldn’t possibly be the Twilight from the pony world since the Twilight from the pony world doesn’t go to Crystal Prep or wear glasses.”
Then the excitement faded as she became downcast.  Twilight wasn't sure, but she could have sworn that the volume of the pinkette’s hair actually deflated, like some sort of balloon.  “Also, you don’t seem to be mad or disappointed in me, and if you were Princess Twilight, you should be disappointed in me because I'm disappointed in me.  Instead of helping someone who was sad, we went all Meanie McMeanpants and turned our backs on someone who was our friend.  But we haven’t been able to talk to either one of them to say sorry...But I guess you know all about that seeing as you’re here to take my magic.”
“Wait, what?” asked the bewildered scientist.
“Duh!  You need to collect my magic which is the last of the Equestrian Element magics that you need because the mysterious energy that you were researching turned out to be magic and you accidentally pulled Sunset Shimmer back through the portal to our world, and she's been stuck here as an adorably small unicorn with no way home so you’re helping her collect all our magic so she has enough to open the portal and get back home.”
It took the prodigy a moment to piece together everything the other girl had just said before stammering, “Um...yeah, but how did you know all that?"
“Just a hunch,” Pinkie said with a shrug.
“And you’re okay with that?” Twilight followed up nervously.
Pinkie looked at her and her face took on a look of utmost seriousness.  “What we did to Sunset back in December was the absolute worst.  We promised Princess Twilight after the Fall Formal that we would look after Sunset and teach her about friendship, but instead we just hurt her more.  We were constantly bringing up her past mistakes, and during the Battle of the Bands when she was trying to stop us from showing the sirens our magic we yelled at her even though she was just trying to help us.  And of course, there was Anon-A-Miss when we left her crying in the hallway.  
“I know my Element is Laughter, and people think it’s just about me being a silly party girl, but it’s more than that.  It’s bringing joy to someone and being silly and throwing parties works for most people to make them happy.  But that wasn’t what made Sunset smile.  She was always the happiest just being with us, feeling included and wanted.
“When we turned on her, we didn't just take away her smile, we broke her heart and the promise we made to Princess Twilight.  Me...Pinkie Pie... broke a Pinkie promise, and nobody breaks a Pinkie promise!  You want to know if I’m okay with giving you my magic?”
The next moment, Pinkie Pie had pulled out two oversized gift boxes seemingly from nowhere.  Flipping the boxes away, the party girl revealed two large and festively decorated cannons.  Looking at Pinkie nervously, as she took hold of the two triggering mechanisms, Twilight asked cautiously, “Um, are you sure this is a good idea?”
Pinkie’s hair seemed to poof out into a ball of frizzy cotton candy and gave her a more eccentric look, but the determined gleam in her eyes showed she knew exactly what she was doing.
“If it helps Sunset...Absolutely.”
Pinkie pulled the cords to the two cannons and they exploded in a rain of red and gold confetti.  The party seemed to instantly transform as the standard gym lighting was replaced by a disco ball and the DJ put on some more upbeat music.  While most of the students in the gym cheered and started excitedly enjoying the party, Twilight watched as Pinkie began to glow.  Not just the faint hint of magic that she had witnessed when collecting the other girls’ magic, but a bright pink aura that seemed to radiate from within.  A pair of pink ears soon poked out of her poofy locks as her hair lengthened into a floor length ponytail.  Turning toward Twilight, Pinkie beamed at her with an elated grin.  
“You know, when we turned on her and broke Sunset’s heart.  I was worried that we had also crushed her hope.  I know she was alone for a long time, and we turned on her right when she was starting to open up.  I was so afraid she would give up on the hope that she could ever have a real friend.”
Twilight’s device began to react as the intensity of Pinkie’s magic increased, causing it to lift itself into the air as it began to pull in the energy.
“I’m super excited to see that that’s not true and that she found a real friend.  So thank you, Twilight.”
The teen scientist’s attention was snapped from the hovering pendant back to the ponified party girl.  “Me?  Why are you thanking me?”
Pinkie giggled as the magic aura was pulled into the pendant.  “Because it’s you, silly.  Why else would you be working so hard to help her with stealing our magic?  Obviously, you two are friends or you wouldn’t be here.”
As the last of the magic faded from the glowing girl, she sank to the ground, an exhausted but happy smile on her face.
“So as Sunset’s former friend to her new one could I ask one favor?” asked Pinkie.
“Sure, I guess,” fumbled the awkward teen, still shocked by the previous statement.
“I know that she doesn’t want to see us now, because if she did, Sunset would have just come to us for our magic in the first place, but would you mind telling her that we are super-duper sorry for everything, and if she ever wants to hear our apologies or give us another chance, we’ll do whatever it takes to make things up to her.”
“Um, yeah, I can let her know,” replied Twilight.
“Great!  Then you better get going.  You have a portal to open and a friend to help.”
Looking at the drained teen, the bespectacled couldn’t help but worry, “Are you going to be alright here?”
“Better than ever,” assured Pinkie with a smile.  “Now get going, and don’t forget to tell Sunset.”
“I won’t,” assured Twilight as she hurried out of the gym with a small smile on her face.

***

“When I find you, you preppy little loser…”  The thought went unfinished as Gilda’s hawk like eyes focused in on the pile of papers cascading from the partially ajar locker.  Standing up, Gilda stomped over to the locker and grabbed ahold of the handle.  “You think you can just show up and trash CHS?”  
Inside the locker, Sunset’s horn was lit and holding the back of the latch for all she was worth, though she knew it wouldn’t last long.  She could already feel the sweat begin to form.  Gilda tried pulling the door, but was met by a surprising amount of resistance, which only infuriated her more.  “When I get my hands on you, I'll beat you face in!”  
Whether from her failing magic or the memories that the comment caused, Sunset’s grip on the door failed.  The sudden loss of equilibrium in the battle over the door, caused Gilda to fall backwards and land heavily on her rear, while the door swung open only to bounce back again to a nearly closed position.
“Again?” Sunset spat, “You already beat my face pretty well last time.”
“Shimmer?” Gilda breathed, a look of disbelief sweeping over her face.  “Y-you’re really back?”  The tone of shocked amazement then gave way to utter bafflement, “Why are you in a locker?”  
“Saving you the trouble apparently.”   
“What?  No!  Look, when Dash said you might be here.  I didn’t believe her, but I’m glad I was wrong.”
“Why so you can beat my face in again?  Well, no need, you made your point very clear last time that I’m not welcome here.  Coming back was just a mistake and as soon as I can I’ll be gone again.” 
"What do you mean as soon as you can?  If you’re here isn’t the portal fixed?"  Gilda asked energetically before she seemed to think better of the rapid-fire questions and took a breath before continuing more calmly, "Look I’m not going to hurt you again.  I wanted to apologize and...could you just come out of the locker?  I want to do this properly and you deserve me saying it to your face.”
Sunset mulled over the words.  Gilda, though she had been a bully, she had always been the type to take the credit for her misdeeds.  Unlike Sunset, Gilda had not been a master manipulator and from what Sunset could tell, she was being sincere now.  Couple that with the fact that Sunset had been discovered and she didn’t have time to be trapped in a locker when Spike still needed to be found. 
Taking a deep breath, Sunset called, “Fine, I’m coming out.  Just...just don’t freak out or anything.”
“Why would I freak out?  Did you-” The question died on her tongue as an adorable tiny unicorn hopped out of the locker and stared up at her with huge teal eyes.  Gilda tried to hold it in, but in the end, she was no match for the sight before her and an audible “Squee” escaped passed her lips.  
The reaction coming from the person Princess Luna had had to banish from her dreams a time or two, was enough to blow past any remaining fear and cause the tiny unicorn to burst out laughing.  “Well, at least you didn’t pass out.  I don’t think I could have caught you at the moment.”
“Y-you’re a unicorn.  Like an actual unicorn.  Why are you a unicorn?  I mean, that’s cool.  Sorry.”  Gilda looked away embarrassedly as she rubbed the back of her short hair then knelt down so she could be closer to eye level with the diminutive pony.  “I’m sorry about a lot of things.  How I acted, how I jumped to conclusions and what I did to you are just the tip of the iceberg.”  Seeing the understanding in those big, teal eyes, Gilda sat down and leaned against the lockers before pressing on.  “I don’t know how much you know about me, but I didn’t exactly have the best home life and the only so-called friends I had were just there because they would rather be with me than against me.”
Sunset chuckled, as she sat down next to her former tormentor.  “Yeah, I know a thing or two about that.”
“But it’s no excuse for what I did to you.  Yeah, you were a bitch before, and I was mad about the site, but I acted without thinking.”
“There was a lot of that going on back then.  You just did what everyone else was too scared to do.  Probably threw you a parade for getting me to go.  Was this display just an easy way to cover up my disappearance?”
“Heh, not even close.”  Lifting the sun adorned journal from where it had fallen, Gilda handed it to the unicorn.  “The Rainbooms said this thing was supposed to send messages to your world.  I’m guessing it doesn’t work.”  
“Not since the day I left.”
“And you didn’t get a chance to look at it before I showed up?”  Sunset shook her head.  
“Maybe you should.”