Canterlot Private Academy for Girls – as the name implies, it is an academy in the city of Canterlot for girls only. It is also one of the more prestigious education centres in the state, catering only to those from rich backgrounds, or with the grades to achieve a special scholarship programme.
The high school campus consisted of three buildings: the main building, the science centre, and the creativity centre. For the most part, students would eat their dinner either inside of the main building or, on a lovely day, outside in one of the gorgeously-maintained garden areas.
Twilight Sparkle was different, though. She preferred the quiet of the academy’s library, surrounded by stacks of books and taking in the scent of aged parchment and ink whilst she ate. She didn’t care much for sports or games, and the homework that the teachers gave her was never enough, so she would spend her lunchtimes reading as much as possible and pushing herself further. It was what made her happy, after all, even if-
“Twilight!”
“GAH!”
… Even if Sunset Shimmer would inevitably find her and disrupt her studies by grabbing her into a headlock from behind, making a complete mess of the school uniform her parents had spent good money on.
“Sunset!” Twilight said in a hushed as she wormed her way out of her friend’s hold and adjusted her tie. “It’s a library. You have to be quiet.”
“Ah, it’s fine!” Sunset said, pulling up a seat beside Twilight and sitting down.
Twilight blushed, before turning to face her friend and then glaring at the messy state of her uniform. Black blazer was unfastened, white shirt was untucked, skirt was wrinkled, tie was crooked, and… “Is that gum?” Twilight asked just in time for Sunset Shimmer to blow a bubble with the gum in her mouth. “You know that’s prohibited in school!”
“It’s only a stick of gum,” Sunset said in a dismissive tone. “What are they gonna do? Kick out one of their brightest pupils over a piece of candy?”
“They might,” Twilight muttered as she turned her attention back to her book, only for Sunset Shimmer to snatch it away. “Hey!”
“You read too much,” Sunset told her. “Let’s go hang out with the other girls for a bit! It’ll be a nice change of pace from talking to yourself around dusty old books all the time.”
“They are not dusty!” Twilight argued. Sunset Shimmer blew into the book in her hands, releasing a cloud of dust that made Twilight cough. “… O-Okay, they’re a little dusty, but only because I’m the only student who seems to appreciate them! Anyway, who are these ‘other girls’?”
“It’s us!” Twilight jumped and turned to the girl suddenly sitting in front of her. She recognised the energetic girl with the huge grin on her face as Lyra Heartstrings, an eccentric music-lover and head of the school’s ‘Brony/Pegasister Society’, a society of students who are fans of the Pretty Pony Princess toyline… It consisted mostly of girls from the elementary school branch.
“Lyra, you’re too loud,” the girl sitting beside Lyra in the cream jumper and long blue skirt said. Bon Bon was a student from the university section of the academy, studying for a degree in Culinary Arts. She had a reputation among the younger students as ‘The Candy Lady’. Rumours that she and Lyra were dating were confirmed at the last high school dance, though it was thought at the time that they were about to break up after Lyra shouted her confession into the microphone in front of the entire high school division.
“You’re lucky,” the final girl at the table said. “She’s not your roommate.” Octavia Philharmonica. Another music-lover and a member of the high school’s choir. Her instrument of choice is the cello, whilst Lyra’s is the harp. Of all the girls at school beside Sunset Shimmer, Octavia was the one that Twilight felt the most comfortable with. Perhaps it was her maturity or her intellect, but whatever it was, Twilight had an easier time with her than she did with most other students.
“So I kinda told the girls you’d come have lunch with us by the lion fountain,” Sunset told Twilight with an innocent smile. “That’s cool, right?”
“No,” Twilight deadpanned with a sigh. “Why didn’t you think to ask me about this first?”
“‘Cause you would’ve just said no,” Sunset said as she grabbed Twilight’s arm and stood up. “Come on! One day in the sun won’t kill ya!”
“But my reading-”
“You’re already at the top of your classes!”
“W-What about sunburn?”
“Got ya covered,” Sunset said, producing a bottle on sunblock from her bag. “Though with the cloud cover we’ve got today, you shouldn’t have to worry about it.”
“What about getting hit by stray soccer balls?” Twilight asked.
“Pitch is on the other side of the campus,” Lyra pointed out.
“Sunset, if she doesn’t want to come, I don’t see why we should force her,” Octavia said, bringing a hopeful glint to Twilight’s eyes.
“She needs to get over her agoraphobia,” Sunset said, destroying the glint as quickly as it had appeared, “And the most effective method is to tackle it head-on!”
“But I’m happy here!” Twilight protested, grabbing onto the table with her free hand.
“It’s not healthy!” Sunset said, pulling Twilight to no avail. “You have to… go outside… from time-to-time!”
“Don’t… wanna…”
“Tough! You can’t… be a shut-in… forever!”
“Watch me!”
Lyra giggled as she watched the two compete in a tug-of-war which soon led to Twilight dragging the table she was holding across the library floor. Bon Bon and Octavia simply wandered off to the side and pretended that they didn’t know the two girls.
“I’ll cut off your hand if I have to!” Sunset threatened.
“I’ll hold my breath if I have to!” Twilight returned.
“Excuse me, girls.” The two stopped their little argument and turned to the angry-looking elderly woman to their side, glaring down at the two girls. “I will not put up with any disruption in my library.”
Lyra, Bon Bon and Octavia sneaked past the librarian and quietly crept towards the entrance, leaving Twilight Sparkle on Sunset Shimmer alone to face the tyrant.
“I still can’t believe you got me kicked out of the library!” Twilight shouted before taking a big bite out of her sandwich.
“To be fair, that lady’s a crank anyway,” Lyra said, though it didn’t appear that Twilight was listening to her.
“Look, I said that I’m sorry,” Sunset said. “Anyway, at least you’re outside now! And you’re not dead yet, are you?”
“… Well, you may have got me outside, but I am not going to take part in your silly games!” Twilight reached into her bag and pulled out a book, opening it up and reading it from the marked position.
“Oh come on! It’s a nice day out, and all you want to do is read?!” Twilight ignored Sunset Shimmer. “… Look, I was only trying to help you. We’re gonna graduate someday, right? When that day comes, we’ll have to go our separate ways, and you’re gonna have to learn to face the world on your own.”
“… I can take care of myself, thank you,” Twilight responded.
“Oh yeah? If it wasn’t for me, you wouldn’t even be able to get past the crowds of students to reach your classes in time. And what about all the times somebody approached you and you just froze up or walked away? You do that in the real world, people will think you’re just out to make enemies.”
Twilight didn’t say anything. She simply focused on her book, though the look on her face softened a little bit as she did so.
“Ugh. Why do I even bother?” Sunset asked as she reached into her pocket. “… Hey Bon Bon, you got any more of that new gum?”
“Hm? Oh, sure. One moment…” Bon Bon reached into her bag and searched through her possessions.
A light bulb shone in Lyra’s mind. “Hey Shimmer! You should totally try to blow the world’s biggest bubble!”
Octavia sighed and brought a hand to her forehead. “… What?”
“Y’know! Bons’ new gum produces really big bubbles, right? Well, what if we stacked it up? Wouldn’t that make a really, really big bubble?”
“Lyra, even for you, that is the stupidest thing I have ever-”
“That’s a good question,” Bon Bon said, cutting Octavia off and bringing a blush to the other girl’s face. “I mean, I’ve never tested it out, so I guess it could work…”
“Sweet! Let’s try it out!” Lyra said, grabbing a bunch of sticks from Bon Bon’s hand and offering them to Sunset Shimmer. “Let’s say… five sticks?”
“Are you trying to break my jaw?” Sunset asked in a flat tone. “I’ll start with three.”
Twilight rolled her eyes. “You really think this is going to help me prepare for my future outside of high school?”
“It’s called ‘socialising’, Twilight. All the cool kids do it,” Sunset replied.
“All the ‘cool kids’ have mediocre grades, at best,” Twilight muttered.
Sunset ignored the comment and unwrapped her first stick of gum, throwing it into her mouth and chewing it. This was joined by a second piece, and finally a third piece.
“Okay, now blow!” Lyra cheered in an excited tone.
“So childish,” Twilight said, keeping her eyes on her book as she spotted a large, pink bubble forming in the corner of her eye. That was when it had happened. It all happened so quickly, and nobody ever saw it coming.
Twilight pulled out her notebook and a pen to jot down some notes, when suddenly a teacher shouted out to the four of them, startling the girls and causing them to look towards the source of the voice. The bubble that Sunset Shimmer was blowing collided with Twilight’s pen, causing it to pop and scatter outwards…
As Lyra, Bon Bon, Octavia, and even the teacher stared in shock, Sunset Shimmer stared in horror as Twilight seemed to have been frozen in place. Slowly, Twilight’s hand reached up behind her head, tracing along the bottom of her hair and travelling upwards until she could feel the wet, sticky gum.
“T-Twilight,” Sunset Shimmer said, her eyes and hands trembling as she waited for Twilight to say something.
What came next was a scream so loud that everybody in the vicinity was suddenly aware of what was going on, and then Twilight jumping to her feet and running as fast as she could towards the main building.
“Twilight, wait!” Sunset shouted as she chased after her. ‘Oh no… What have I done?!’
Sunset Shimmer sat outside of the nurse’s office with her head buried into her hands. ‘I can’t believe I did that… Twilight’s never going to forgive me. She’s going to hate me forever, I just know it!’
“Is she okay?” Sunset looked up to see Octavia standing before her, and then returned to covering her face with her hands. “Is that a no, then?”
“She’s not speaking to me,” Sunset said. “Understandable, I guess… The nurse called her mother, and she’ll be here soon to pick her up.”
Octavia nodded and took a seat next to Sunset Shimmer. She didn’t say anything, though. After all, she didn’t know what to say in a situation like that. She knew how close Sunset Shimmer and Twilight Sparkle were together. Heck, the entire high school knew that the two were BFFs. And as far as she knew, the two had never had a serious falling out before. Minor squabbles, sure, but nothing to this level…
“I’m sure she’ll be alright,” Octavia offered, though it didn’t seem to help. “She’s a strong girl, right? This is certainly a shock to her, but give her some time and I’m positive she will bounce right back in no time.”
“… I hope so,” Sunset muttered as she turned her attention towards the nurse’s office’s door. The sound of footsteps drew the two girls’ attentions to the middle-aged woman in a white dress walking down the hallway. “Mrs. V… I-I’m so sorry, I-”
“Is she alright?” Twilight Velvet asked, her tone neither harsh nor gentle.
Sunset sighed. “She’s fine… I’m sorry. This is all my fault…”
Velvet shook her head. “I heard from the nurse that it was an accident. I’m sure that you didn’t mean to hurt her.”
Sunset simply turned her head away with a shamed look on her face as Twilight Velvet approached the nurse’s office and knocked on the door. She walked inside, a few muffled voices were heard within, and then she came back out moments later, a dejected Twilight Sparkle following behind her, the gum in her hair standing out to Sunset Shimmer who only felt more guilty upon seeing it.
“Can you please let her teachers know that she’ll be taking the rest of the day off?” Velvet asked the nurse.
“Of course,” Nurse Redheart said.
“Twilight,” Sunset called out, rising to her feet. “Twilight, I’m so, so sorry! I didn’t mean to-”
Twilight stepped forward, away from Sunset Shimmer, ignoring her friend’s words. “Twilight,” Velvet called out after her, but she refused to stop. She simply continued to move forward, as if in a trance. “… Thank you for all your help,” Velvet said to the nurse, before walking quickly to catch up to her daughter.
Sunset Shimmer gritted her teeth together and punched the wall beside her. “… She hates me,” she said, falling to her knees and staring down towards the floor. “She hates me and wants nothing to do with me anymore!”
“N-Now I’m sure that’s not true!” Octavia said, rushing to Sunset’s side and holding the distressed girl who was clearly struggling to hold in her tears. “She’s just gone through something rather traumatic. I’m sure she just needs some time before she can speak to anyone.”
“Yeah!” Lyra shouted as she approached the two, Bon Bon following behind her. “You know what Twilight’s like! When she’s sad, she just needs some space before she’ll open up!”
“But usually, she opens up to me straight away!” Sunset cried. “Ever since her brother moved out, I’m the one who always solved her problems! Now I’m the source of the problem!”
“I’m sure that Twilight Sparkle won’t see it that way,” Bon Bon said, crouching down reaching forward to gently hold Sunset Shimmer. “She is not the type of girl who I can imagine will blame her best friend for something like, or hold onto a grudge.”
“But-”
“Do you think that she’s that kind of girl?”
Sunset Shimmer was silent after that. “Look, just give her some time,” Lyra repeated, offering a hand to her friend and helping her to her feet. “For now, you need some time to cool off, too. Can’t have you approaching Twilight in the state you’re in now.”
Sunset sniffed and wiped her eyes with her sleeve. “W-What do you mean?”
“I mean, we should go somewhere nice and quiet to chillax!” Lyra said. “Somewhere where you can think clearly and get it all out of your system before you go and make up with Twilight.”
Sunset was silent for a moment, before slowly nodding. “Y-Yeah… maybe you’re right…”
“Uh, Lyra?” Octavia said. “You realise that school isn’t over yet, right?”
“This is an emergency!” Lyra said in a dismissive tone. “I’m sure we can skip a few afternoon classes for our dear friend Sunny here!”
“Well, I have no more lectures for today anyway…” Bon Bon said, before giving Lyra a deadpan stare, “But really now, you should stop finding excuses to cut class. Even if this one is somewhat legitimate.”
“So it’s settled then!” Lyra exclaimed, ignoring Bon Bon’s second comment. “Let’s all go to my place and drink our troubles away!”
“D-Drink?” Octavia asked with a worried look as Lyra grabbed Sunset Shimmer’s arm and began to march away with her.
“Don’t worry,” Bon Bon said with a sigh as she and Octavia followed the other two girls from a distance. “She just means apple juice.”
Sunset Shimmer slammed her empty glass down onto the floor and breathed a heavy sigh as she leaned back against the bed behind her. “I screwed up big time,” she said.
“Yeah, kinda,” Lyra said as she walked into the room, now wearing a green T-shirt with a harp emblem on it and light-green cargo shorts instead of her school uniform. “You should probably cut back on the apple juice though. That stuff’ll give you wicked-bad stomach aches at the rate you’re going.”
“Right now that’s probably what I deserve,” Sunset groaned as she turned her head away. “I never should have forced her to go outside. I should have just let her be the happy little bookworm she is, but noooooo… I’m like, the worst friend ever.”
“That’s just the… juice… talking.” Lyra sat down beside Sunset Shimmer and placed a hand on her shoulder. “You were just trying to help broaden her horizons. Nothing wrong with that.”
“Your methods were a bit forceful,” Octavia – now in her casual black T-shirt and beige trousers – admitted from her bed opposite Sunset Shimmer, “But you heart was in the right place.”
“‘Sides, it’s nothing a little haircut can’t fix,” Lyra pointed out. “What’s the big deal?”
“I’ll admit, all this does seem to be an overreaction to a silly little mishap,” Bon Bon said. “Twilight never struck me as the kind of girl that was focussed too much on her looks, either.”
“You’re right, she’s not,” Sunset Shimmer said. “Except for her hair. Because she grew her hair out long for one person in particular.”
“Who’s that?” Lyra asked. “A boyfriend?”
“Her brother.”
Lyra snapped her fingers. “So close!”
“… How is that close?” Bon Bon asked with a raised eyebrow. “You know what? Don’t answer that. Just… please continue, Sunset.”
Sunset sighed. “Well basically, her brother likes long-hair on girls. And one day, when we were children, I mused to Twilight that he might like it on her, too. Shining Armor agreed that she would look cute with long hair, and she took that to heart. From that day on, she resolved to grow her hair out long for her brother.”
Octavia and Bon Bon shared uneasy looks. “Ah,” the both said in unison.
“Soooo… it’s a bit more complicated than we first thought,” Lyra summarised.
“Twilight takes pride in her hair,” Sunset continued. “She always refused to cut it, and she fusses over it every single day, making sure that it grows nice and healthy. She even measures it make sure that it’s an even length.”
“Seriously?” Lyra asked in a deadpan tone.
“Seriously,” Sunset confirmed. “And now it has to be cut off… all because of me…”
A silence passed over the group for a few tense moments. Octavia broke it after she glanced up towards the clock hanging on the wall nearby. “You know, it has probably been enough time for Twilight to have cooled down.”
Bon Bon nodded in agreement. “You should go and make things right with her, Sunset. If her hair was as important to her as you say it was, then she must really need a friend right now.”
Sunset scoffed. “Yeah, ‘cause she’ll want to see me of all people.” Sunset shook her head. “No, there’s no way she’d want me to just show up and apologise. For her to even begin to forgive me, I’d have to do something to make it all up to her. Something like…” Sunset gasped. “That’s it!” she shouted as she rose to her feet. “I’ve got it! I know exactly how to make this all up to her!”
“How?” Bon Bon asked as Sunset Shimmer ran past her and towards the dormitory door.
“Don’t worry guys! I’ll make things up to Twilight, and this is the only way to do so!”
A sense of dread came over Sunset Shimmer as she stood outside of the beauty salon, thinking about what she was about to do. She reached a hand up to her wonderful, silky-smooth hair and sighed. “Better get this over with…”
As she walked forward, the door’s opened up and another girl came out. The two bumped into each other and Sunset dropped her bag. “Oh! Sorry about that,” the girl said. “Sunset?”
Sunset gasped. She recognised this voice. “Twilight?” she asked as she looked up from her bag. She gasp again. “Twilight, your hair…”
The purple girl standing before her blushed. “I-It looks stupid, doesn’t it?” she asked.
Sunset quickly shook her head. “No, no! Of course not!” She wasn’t lying, either. She knew that this was inevitable, that Twilight would have to cut her hair in order to remove the gum, but this was…
Twilight’s hair was now only a third of its previous length, only reaching down to half-way down her neck. It definitely made her look different… but to Sunset Shimmer, it wasn’t in a bad way. Somehow, it seemed to really highlight Twilight’s beauty. Previously, Sunset Shimmer would always see Twilight as a shy yet playful kid sister who she had to look out for, but now, Twilight looked more…
“T-That look really suits you,” Sunset said with a smile.
“You mean it?” Twilight asked, a mix of surprise and hopefulness in her voice.
Sunset nodded. “It makes you look more grown-up,” Sunset said. “More mature, I guess. I dare say the boys will have a hard time leaving you alone when you show them your new look tomorrow.”
Twilight blushed and lowered her head, but smiled nonetheless. “I see… So it doesn’t look… dorky, or anything?”
“… Wellll,” Sunset said, circling Twilight to get a good look at the new haircut from every angle, “Maybe a little, but hey, that could just be your natural dorkiness factor, anyway!”
Twilight threw a playful punch that Sunset dodged whilst laughing. “Seriously though! Does it look stupid?”
“It looks fine,” Sunset said. “Better than fine. It looks great.”
Twilight let out a sigh of relief. “That’s good…”
“But… what about your brother?” Sunset asked. “Didn’t you grow your hair out for his sake?”
Twilight nodded. “I did, but… Well, I guess it’s time I get out of that phase and stop pining for my brother’s attention so much… right? Besides, this length really is more convenient, and practical, too!”
Sunset grinned. “Well then, I guess it’s a good thing I got gum in your hair!”
“Don’t push it,” Twilight said with a frown. “By the way, how did you know I’d be here?”
Sunset titled her head to the side. “How did I… Oh! Right! Well, I didn’t really know. We just happened to bump into each other. You see, I came here to…” Sunset sighed, and Twilight regarded her with a quizzical look. “I came here to make things right…”
“What do you mean?” Twilight asked.
“I know there’s never anything I can do to take back what happened, and I don’t blame you if you never forgive me,” Sunset said, “But at the very least, I can show you how sorry I am. That’s why I’m… gonna get my hair cut short, too.”
Twilight gasped. “You’re what?!”
Sunset nodded in confirmation. “It’s the least I can do to-” She was cut off by Twilight’s hands on her shoulders, shaking her back-and-forth.
“No! You can’t! Your hair’s so beautiful and you spend so long styling it every day, it would be a waste to cut it now!”
Sunset grabbed Twilight’s hands and steadied herself. “Look, I’m not saying this will be easy, but I have to do it! I did something horrible to you, and I have to pay my dues!”
“No you don’t!” Twilight told her.
“Yes I do!” Sunset insisted.
“NO!”
“YES!”
Twilight groaned and stomped a foot onto the floor. “You don’t have to because I don’t hate you!”
“You! … Y-You don’t?” Sunset asked, surprise and confusion in her voice. “B-But I… I dragged you outside even when you made it perfectly clear you didn’t want me to, and then I got all that gum in your hair and you had to-”
“I know, and I know I gave you the cold shoulder after that,” Twilight said with a sigh. “Look, Sunset, I… I was just a little shocked, that’s all. Sure I don’t exactly appreciate you invading my personal space like you did,” Sunset grimaced at that, “But I had some time to cool off and think about it, and you know what? I forgive you.”
Sunset simply stood there in shock, her mouth hung open and her eyes wide with awe. “I don’t want something silly like a bad hair day or you being a little nosey to ruin our friendship,” Twilight said as she leaned forward and hugged her friend. “That’s why I just want to forgive and forget, and also why I don’t want you doing something you’ll regret just because you think you hurt me.”
“Twilight, I… I don’t know what to say.” Sunset returned Twilight’s hug with a smile. After a moment, the two parted, and Sunset released a huge sigh of relief. “Oh thank god!” she shouted, holding a hand over her chest and feeling her fast-beating heart. “I’m so glad I bumped into you here. I was this close to forever destroying my image!” To indicate how close she was, Sunset Shimmer held her index finger and her thumb in close proximity to each other, leaving only a tiny gap of space between them.
Twilight giggled. “Though, I would like to see what you look like with short hair. That would be kind of funny.”
“Hmph! Too bad that will never happen,” Sunset Shimmer declared as she folded her arms. “So we’re good then?”
Twilight nodded. “Sure. But you’re gonna have to do something pretty special to make up for me missing a whole afternoon of school.”
Sunset Shimmer put a finger to her chin. “Oh gee, how about getting you out of school for an entire afternoon?” she asked in a teasing tone. “Y’know most girls your age would be okay with that.”
“But I’m not most girls our age,” Twilight responded. “Well, if we’re going to play hookey, we’re going to do it by the book!”
“What do you mean?” Sunset asked.
The door to the beauty salon opened and both girls turned to Twilight Velvet, who was putting her purse away into her bag. “Oh, Sunset Shimmer!” she said as she noticed the two girl standing outside. “Did you two make up, then?” The two nodded, and Velvet smiled.
“Mum, we’re going to the arcade,” Twilight said. “Is that okay?”
Velvet considered it for a moment. “Well, I guess it’s a little late to take you back to school now,” she said. “Just be back home by dinner, okay?”
“We will!” Twilight said as she grabbed Sunset’s wrist. “Come on, let’s go!” she cheered as she ran through the mall, Sunset stumbling and then running behind her.
“T-Twilight, what-”
“First we have to go to the arcade,” Twilight said. “Then we get ice-cream, then we go to a clothing outlet and shoplift a few sweaters!”
“What?!” Sunset shouted as she forced her wrist out of Twilight’s hold and stopped.
Twilight also stopped and turned to her friend. “… Well, maybe we don’t have to go shoplifting,” she said with a sheepish grin and a squee. “But we do have to do the other things typical of a day playing hookey from school!”
Sunset regarded the excited-looking girl with a dumbfounded look, before sighing and shaking her head. “… Okay then. Let’s go,” she said as she walked past Twilight, who nodded and followed after her. ‘New look, same old Twilight. I’m glad she was able to forgive me… and that she’s such a good friend.’