Sunset rolled her eyes as Coco, the Crusaders, and herself strode down the halls of Canterlot High. “Yes, I’m sure,” she sighed. “I didn’t need those stupid games anyway.”
Apple Bloom and Scootaloo matched her step for step, glaring at her the entire time. Luckily for them, their class was in the same direction… If one made an entire circle around the school that is.
Scootaloo scoffed. “And how do we know you’re telling the truth?”
Sunset groaned. “Fine! Coco, tell them, please.”
Coco chuckled nervously and stopped to address the girls. “Don’t worry girls, I made her return them before we left. Your friend has nothing to worry about.”
Sweetie Belle, who had been lagging behind, finally caught up to the group. “It’s true!” she assured. “I was there, she even stopped and apologized.” Scootaloo turned back to Sunset and opened her mouth, but before she could say anything further she felt Sweetie tugging on her arm. “Now come on. Ms. Cheerilee said she wouldn’t let us be partners in class if we were late again.”
“Oh no, she’s right!” gasped Apple Bloom. Not wanting to be separated, Apple Bloom instantly turned and ran back down the hallway, grabbing Sweetie on the way and almost barreling over a teacher in the process.
“No runnin’ in the halls!” yelled Mr. Doodle. Frustrated, he continued to mumble harsh criticisms all the way into his room.
Scootaloo gave Sunset one last look before running off after them. Sunset sighed. “Thanks,” she smiled. Coco nodded appreciatively and they continued their way down the hall.
Coco looked around. “You know, I think I'm really starting to like this place.”
Sunset gave her an odd look and chuckled. “We just dealt with three stalkers who shot you with darts yesterday. Why would you like this place?”
Coco gave Sunset a bright smile. “That’s exactly why. I thought about it last night and I realized that they were just having fun in the end. I don’t think they meant any real harm. Plus, this school is so lively, not like Manehattan where it’s so crowded you can’t help but bump into people, but lively enough that when you see someone you know wherever you go.”
Sunset scoffed. “Listen, I’m not like Pinkie. I don’t know everyone in this town and I’m glad they don’t know me.” She thought about what she just said. "Well I hope they don't all know me."
“I mean, just look around. Look how active and happy everyone is,” Coco urged.
Following her suggestion, Sunset glanced around. In the end, Coco was right. Ever since she gained friends everything felt different somehow. The school did seem brighter to her, and all of the students she’d swear were staring and talking about her behind her back before were now barely paying any attention to her. Of course some students still gave her the stink eye and it was plainly obvious they hadn’t forgotten her prior “exploits.” But it wasn’t as bad as she had made it out to be.
Even the teachers weren't that hard on her after discovering how sorry she had been. Helping to to fix the school and a few months of detention and teacher aid were apparently what they had felt was necessary. Honestly, all things considered she--
“Sunset, watch out!”
“Oof!” Sunset, in her distraction, accidentally bumped into another girl. “Oh sorry,” she said, quickly backing away.
“Hey, watch where you… Oh, it’s you.” Rose turned around and eyed the girl who had bumped into her and interrupted her conversation.
Sunset frowned and simply opted to just walk around the group. Coco nervously followed, silently hoping to avoid confrontation. She didn’t know how well her scolding had gone off with them but if they were angry she didn’t want to be in their presence long enough for them to get back at her.
Luckily, Rose and the others just scoffed and ignored them. Once she was out of their way, Sunset let out a silent sigh. No more daydreaming, it was time to get down to business. “So, Coco, are any of the girls in your class? I think Rainbow Dash is in my first period. I’ll figure out some way to find out what to get her.”
Coco, who was still glancing worriedly back at the flower trio, jumped at the sudden conversation. “Sorry, what?”
“Remember, Christmas presents?” she reminded.
“Right, right! I think I’ll meet Rarity at some point before lunch.” She stopped and pointed near the end of the hall. “In fact, there she is right now.” Sunset followed her direction to see Rarity taking the last few school books from her locker and putting them in her bag. “We just passed your class right? You head on over and I’ll talk to Rarity, alright?”
Sunset nodded and Coco made her way down the hall.
“Hey, Sunset!” Sunset flinched at the sound of her name being yelled. She turned around slowly, and sure enough there was Rainbow Dash speeding down the hall.
Cranky Doodle poked his head out of his room. “No yelling in the halls!” he screamed. Rainbow Dash paid him no mind as she sped past him. “And no running! Darn kids…”
“Sup,” she greeted, stopping right in front of her friend.
“Do you really have to shout my name like that?” groaned Sunset, sheepishly hiding her face. “I still don’t really want to bring any more attention to myself than I need.”
Rainbow simply waved her off. “Nah it’s cool. Nobody’s gonna mess with you while I’m around to stop ‘em.” She looked past Sunset to see Coco talking to Rarity down the hall. “There’s Rarity. Wanna go say hey?” she asked.
“Already did,” she lied.“ They said they’d meet us later. Let’s get to class. I get the feeling that our teacher is in a bad mood right about now.”
Rainbow turned around and glanced over to the room of the man she just passed and groaned. For a scientist, her teacher, Mr. Cranky Doodle, was very pessimistic about what he did. He was such a downer that not even Pinkie was able to cheer the old man up, though not for lack of trying. Not to mention he wasn’t stingy with his detentions either.
“Yeah,” sighed Rainbow, reluctantly trudging her body over to the class.
Sunset followed closely after, wondering how to ask what her friend wanted without actually asking it. As Rainbow opened the door for them and they headed to their desks, Sunset decided to wing it. She was good at that… right?
Before now she would always hide in the back of the classroom to avoid attention; surrounded by only empty seats. But after Rainbow started visiting her in the library she often found the girl sitting next to her in class. I just wanna see what it’s like back here, was her original excuse.
Since then the two of them sat in the back of the class, joking, whispering and just generally not paying attention. Sunset was already well versed in the various sciences anyway; including, chemistry, mathematics, cooking, botany, psychology, and even alchemy. Of course, her first year here was spent reviewing things to make sure the knowledge lined up. So far, the only differences that she found were in geography, social studies, biology, physics, and some parts of the language. So she only really paid attention when those topics were brought up.
Rainbow Dash, meanwhile, just didn’t care. She did just well enough to keep her in her athletics courses and that was fine in her book.
However, this time seemed a bit different. Sunset turned to her friend and saw that for once she looked tense, almost nervous. “Are you alright?” she asked.
The class began to fill up with students eager to keep from being tardy. Rainbow sat her bag on the table and sighed. “Yeah, I’m cool. I just really don’t feel like hearing Crank’s voice today.”
“You still sleepy?” asked Sunset, chuckling.
Rainbow yawned, almost as if that in itself was an answer. “I just can’t really afford to fall asleep today,” she added afterwards.
Sunset gave her a look. “You seemed pretty awake when you were screaming my name down the hallway.”
It was then that the bell rang, signalling the five minute warning to get to class. Just as he did every day, Mr. Doodle lifted his watch and waited out the minutes. Once the late bell rang, he would mark it by slamming the door closed and locking it; making Sunset glad she was already inside.
Rainbow slapped her cheeks a few times to wake herself up. “Forget that; I ran all the way to school this morning and I’m still tired.”
“What were you doing last night?” asked Sunset, staring at her with a surprised look.
Rainbow thought back to that fateful Sunday night and grimaced. “I was training… with the team… Yeah that’s it.” Sunset gave her a skeptical look and Rainbow craned her head to look away from her.
“During the winter? When none of the teams you’re on are active?” Rainbow continued to ignore her questioning looks. “So why do you have to stay awake? You don’t normally care about falling asleep in class.”
“You know that Doodle will kick me out if I fall asleep,” she argued, turning back around.
Sunset had to agree with that one. If there was one thing, Mr. Doodle didn’t tolerate, it was kids sleeping in his class. “Still, normally you’d just sleep somewhere else in the school. Either that or just skip this class entirely.”
“Hey, don’t you have something to talk about that isn’t about me sleeping?” she hastily replied. “What did you do over the weekend?
Sunset crossed her arms and huffed, “Don’t change the subject.” She pointed at her and gave her a suspicious look. “You’re hiding something.”
Rainbow looked around nervously. “No, I just don’t want to get in trouble today.”
“Why not?”
“No reason.”
Sunset gave her a sly smirk. “So, did you do the homework?”
There was a single second where the question seemed to register in Rainbow’s head, then another second where her face evolved into one of pure shock and horror. The next thing Sunset knew, the girl was cowering on the ground next to her desk. “Sunset, please let me copy your homework this one time!” she begged. “My dad saw my progress report and Doodle left a horrible message at the bottom. He didn’t say anything but I feel like if I get in trouble with Doodle one more time I’ll lose all my Christmas presents this year!”
Sunset nervously glanced around to see if anyone had turned to look at them. Luckily, everyone else was still having their own conversations or still piling in before the bell rang. “Umm… sure, but I need a favor.”
“I don’t have any money,” Rainbow replied instantly.
“It’s not that, I--”
It was then that the late bell rang, followed by the sound of a door slamming, followed by banging on said door, followed by the muffled groaning and yelling of locked out students.
“Hurry!” she hissed. “I’ll do anything,”
Sunset quickly fished out last week’s assignment and handed it over. “You gotta help me out with something after school.” Rainbow nodded, snatched it up and got to copying.
“Alright then, everybody quiet down!” announced Mr. Doodle. “First thing, you all have the homework assignment, I presume?”
Sunset turned to Rainbow who had slid the paper back and was giving her a thumbs up.
Sunset allowed herself a victorious grin. She was just going to ask Rainbow to tell her more about herself but this was going to be much easier. Honestly, everything went better than expected.
Cranky passed by collecting the papers but stopped once he picked up Rainbow’s. “Detention,” he said, setting it back down.
“What?” yelled Dash. “Why?”
Sunset looked down at her sheet and frowned. She calmly reached over and picked up the other paper and held it up to show Rainbow, who was still furious. “You handed him my paper…” she whispered. “Probably thought you were trying to cheat.” She shrugged. “Which you were, to be honest.”
Rainbow’s anger evaporated, seeing her mistake, Rainbow slammed her head on the desk in frustration.
Hearing the resulting thud, Mr. Doodle circled back around and yelled. “No sleeping in my class!”
~~~
After class, Rainbow slammed her back against the locker and slid down to the ground, groaning all the while. “He’s gonna take my presents away,” the girl whimpered.
“Please,” scoffed Sunset, rolling her eyes. “I’ve met your father. He’s like the nicest person in the world. Plus, I doubt he’d only now get angry at you for a bad progress report. I’m sure it’s not the first one you’ve gotten.”
“Argh! Why do they give these stupid things out right before the holidays?” she cried, drawing a few looks. Not that it was strange to see someone lamenting over their terrible grades messing up potential gifts. A few students even gave her a sympathetic nod.
Rainbow glanced up at Sunset. “Geez, I’m glad you don’t have anyone to show your grades to…”
Sunset folded her arms and gave her a look, complete with a raised eyebrow.
Rainbow, to her credit, at least had the decency to look ashamed. “Oh… sorry.” She reached out a hand, which Sunset took, and stood up. “Whatever, I’ll deal. What was it that you needed help with anyway?”
Sunset’s eyes widened in surprise. “You’ll still help me? Even after you got in trouble?”
“Well duh,” she chuckled. “I mean, why not. At least you tried to help me. So what do you need?”
“Oh… well…” she trailed off, looking for the right words. “I, uh, need help finding a present for someone, and I thought you could help.”
Rainbow nodded. “Ahh, that old problem. I already know what I’m getting for Fluttershy this year. I gotcha. Well, since we both have detention now I don’t have to wait for you. I guess I can help you after school. Let’s meet at the mall and I’ll show you the best way to buy presents.”
Sunset groaned at the mention of returning to that annoying place, but nodded anyway. “Fine. See you at lunch?”
Rainbow, however, shook her head. “Nah, I gotta meet the music teacher about a thing. But I’ll meet you after school alright?”
“What kind of thing?” asked Sunset. “You’re not in trouble with them too are you?” Then she thought about it. “Wait, are you even in a music class?”
“No way!” she exclaimed. “And I’m not.”
Sunset raised her brow in question. “Then… what are you meeting him for?”
Rainbow gave Sunset a mischievous smile and said, “It’s a secret right now but it’s gonna be awesome, trust me.” Without another word she scooped up her bag and ran off down the hall, leaving behind a very curious Sunset Shimmer.
~~~
Time passed, and Sunset attended her other classes, eager for the time that she could head to lunch to meet her other friends. When that time came Sunset took her place in line and scoured the lunch room for the telltale sight one of the girls. Despite the amount of students roaming the room, finding her southern friend was as easy as craning her head till she saw AJ’s obvious brown stetson. Then, as she expected, she found Fluttershy right next to her. Oddly enough she didn't see anyone else. Friends located, she quickly grabbed a sandwich, an apple and some juice, and ran over to meet them.
“Hey, girls,” she waved.
Fluttershy waved and AJ nodded and tipped her hat. “Howdy!”
“How are you doing today?” asked Fluttershy. Looking up from her salad, she discreetly lifted up a leafy green to one of the small animals in her backpack.
Sunset smiled sheepishly. “Alright, I guess. Rainbow and I got detention earlier.”
Applejack just shook her head. “What’d she drag you into this time?” she sighed.
Sunset took a bite of the customary apple that she’d been given with her lunch. “Well, I can’t say it was entirely her fault. I--”
Applejack leaned on the table and gave Sunset a look, complete with a raised brow. “Did’ya let her copy yer homework ‘cuz she forgot it?”
“Yes…” frowned Sunset. Looks like she couldn’t cover for Rainbow Dash this time.
Applejack shook her head. “So where’s she now?” she asked, inspecting today’s pizza lunch. She grinned, seeing that it was stuffed crust.
Sunset took a bite of her sandwich and reveled in its vegetarian deliciousness. “She needed to head to the music room for something. Sounded excited,” she said, her voice muffled by the chewing.
Hearing this, Applejack stopped mid bite. “Now why in the world would she go there?
Fluttershy looked thoughtful for a second. “I don’t think she has that class, is she trying to join a music club?” Sunset just shrugged and swallowed her sandwich. “Oh… well has has anyone seen Pinkie or Rarity?”
AJ glanced in her direction. “Eenope.”
“Oh, I think Rarity is with Coco,” added Sunset, swallowing her bite. “I don’t know where Pinkie is. But I’m meeting Rainbow after school at the mall for Christmas shopping.”
Applejack nearly choked on the last bit of her cheesy crust. “Good luck!” she snickered much to Sunset’s confusion. “See here. Rainbow doesn't exactly know the right way to go ‘bout gettin’ presents for people.”
“What do you mean?” she asked hesitantly.
Applejack took a sip of her boxed apple juice first then sat it back down, smirking all the while. “Here’s how it is, sugarcube. Rainbow’s the type of gal that buys what she likes as a present for someone else. Then she thinks that if you don’t want it, she can have it.”
“Applejack!” gasped Fluttershy. “Don’t say it like that. It sounds mean.” She turned back to Sunset. “Rainbow Dash just thinks that others would share her own interests. She got me a pair of skates last year and tried to teach me. It was really fun for the most part.” Fluttershy smiled at Applejack.
“You broke your leg…” she deadpanned, frowning at Fluttershy. Then she turned and frowned at Sunset. “Then she kept the skates.”
Sunset was still confused. “What did she get you, AJ?”
Applejack leaned back in her seat and idly sipped the rest of her drink. “Last year she went an’ got me a pair of sneakers, Ah forgot what kind. Jordan-somthin’ or others. Ah admit that ah never wore em’ but about a month afterwards they mysteriously disappeared from my closet and ended up on Dash’s feet.”
A hollow slurping noise signaled the emptiness of her juice. Applejack shook it a few times before sitting it back on her tray. “Here’s some real advice on buyin’ a good gift. Get somethin’ that people will use. Get somethin’ practical. I won’t tell ya what Ah’m gettin’ this year for anyone, but last year Ah got Rarity a vintage sewin’ machine.” She gave Sunset a wide proud smirk. “Ah bet she’s still usin’ it too.”
Sunset’s mind suddenly thought back to the rusty brown sewing machine sitting under a black sheet in the far corner of Rarity’s workshop. “Yeeeeah.” She shoved the thought away and, resisted the urge to grin, she focused on everything else her friend had said. It made logical sense, to get something someone would actually use. “Fluttershy, what do you think?”
Fluttershy flinched. “Oh um… Well I… I think that the best thing to get someone would be something nice. Not everything has to be bought with money. You could always make something yourself. It’s the spirit of giving that makes the holidays special in my opinion. Something handmade and given from the heart is what I’d prefer I think.”
Applejack thought on that for a second. Eventually, she just shrugged and stuffed the last bit of her lunch into her maw. “Ah won’t disagree with you there, Shy. ‘Tis the season of givin’ an’ all. Ah’m just sayin’ that Ah think the best thing to give somebody is somethin’ useful. But either way just go with what ya feel is right, Sunset. Ah’m sure whatever you get the person you’re givin’ to will love it.”
“I guess so,” Sunset muttered picking up her tray. “I just hope that I’ll be able to find something in time.” She walked over to a nearby trash can and dumped her leftovers.