//------------------------------// // Aftermath // Story: Another Chance // by Small Muffin //------------------------------// The crusaders walked away from the cafeteria, wanting to gain some distance, "That was... AWESOME!!!" Scootaloo yelled. Silver just looked at her, "Are you alright," Spoon asked. "Who, me? I'm fine. A small knee isn't gonna do much to me," Scoot replied nonchalantly. "Sorry you had to see that... I don't know what came over me," Spoon said weakly. "'Sorry'? But Scoot's right, that was amazing!" Sweetie replied. "I'll admit, that was rather entertaining to watch." Applebloom shrugged. "Just between the four of us, I've wanted to do that myself for a while now," Scootaloo laughed. "I never got to finish what I wanted to say to you two, did I?" Silver asked, wanting to change the subject. "Ah, forget about that," Bloom said, "Just seeing that was apology enough." "Are you sure? You don't want me to do anything else for you?" Sweetie and Applebloom looked at each other, "Well, what do you two say?" Scootaloo asked. "Alright, you win, you're right about her," Sweetie replied. "Yeah, but, why did you wanna talk to us all of a sudden?" Bloom asked. "Well, Sunset wanted me and Dia to, change our ways basically. Or else, we'd regret it later on," Spoon replied, "You can probably guess this, but Diamond never cared for her advice." "So why did you listen to her?" Scootaloo asked, "You seemed like you had no idea what you were doing earlier." "Because... Because she always had our best interests in mind whenever she told us to do anything," Silver said, "She always looked out for us, we were her 'favourites', so to speak. Sure she seems like a completely different person now, but I guess she still wants the best for us." "And Sunset thought 'the best for you', was with us?" Bloom asked. "I guess so, if you'll take me that is," Spoon said. "Of co-" "I know I can only say 'sorry' so many times, but when I'm sorry for everything I've done to the three of you, even if it was because someone else told me to do it I swear, I am telling the truth," Spoon sighed, "I'm sor-" "Will you stop with the mopy stuff now?" Scootaloo asked jokingly. "Yeah, it's fine Silv, we get it, yall don't need to keep going on about it," Applebloom replied in the same joking tone. "Yeah, if you wanna be a crusader, just ask already," Sweetie continued. "Wait, what!?" Silver asked, surprised. "She said-" Scootaloo replied. "I-I heard you, it's just... you really mean it?" she asked as a couple tears came to her eyes. "Of course we do, if you're gonna be hanging out with us now, then you're a crusader now." Sweetie gave her a hug, followed by Applebloom. "Thank you, girls!" Silver suddenly felt something inside her, something warm, something she had never felt before, and she couldn't help but feel happy right now. She had done everything Sunset told her, and had found true friendship in three people who each, less than two hours ago, despised her. "Come on," Sweetie said to Scootaloo, who was standing next to them. "Hey, I've already had my hug, now it's you-" Applebloom grabbed her and pulled her in, "Alright fine." "Silver Spoon," a voice called out. As the four of them broke up and looked over, Discord was signalling for Silver, "Can you come here a minute." Silver looked at the three of them, wiped her eyes, and took a deep breath. When she was calm, she slowly walked over. "Yes sir," she said politely when she reached him. "I just wanted to remind you, though I'm sure you're already aware of this, that I'll need to report this to the principal now," he said in a calm voice. "So could you come with me." "Her, what about Diamond?" Sweetie asked. "All she was doing was yelling insults, she's not worth my time," he replied, "Hey! She kneed me in-" "Yes, and Spoon here hit her with a chair," he interrupted, "I think one of these has a bit more priority than the other, don't you?" Silver raised her hand, and looked at Scoot, "It's fine, I got this." She turned her attention back to Discord. "Now as I was saying, what you did was assault another student, and we can't have that going on, now can we?" he asked, in a calm, yet joking voice. Silver grinned, "How much?" she asked, unziping and reaching into her pocket. "How about, fifty," he grinned back. Silver pulled out a small purse, and out of it, grabbed a fifty dollar note, and handed it to him. "actually, let's make it sixty instead. After all, I'm sure you can more than afford that, right?" Silver handed him a ten dollar note, "There." she adjusted her glasses slightly, "Now I believe you were on about some, incident in the cafeteria, sir?" she asked with a smile. Discord looked at both of the notes, before putting them in his pocket, "Incident? What incident? I'm afraid I have no idea what you are talking about Miss Spoon." he turned around, and with a small laugh, walked off, "Have a nice day." As he walked off, the other three approached her, "So, he isn't gonna tell her, right?" Scootaloo asked. "No, he isn't gonna tell anyone, trust me," Silver replied. "Are you sure? I mean, that guy's even less trustworthy than Sunset was," Applebloom asked. "Really?" Scootaloo asked jokingly, "The guy who, I'm pretty sure intentionally, has almost blown up his own classroom four times, shouldn't be trusted?" Silver rolled her eyes, "Relax, will you, I've delt with him before." "What about everyone in there? What if someone else goes to the principal about this?" Sweetie asked. "I don't think anyone's gonna be sticking up for her about this." Applebloom replied. "Hey, can we head over to the snack machine?" Sweetie asked, "I'm still hungry, and I don't wanna go back in there right now." "Sure, I'll grab something myself," Bloom said, as the four of them headed of down the corridor, with about ten minutes left to eat. Sunset waited by her locker, as people made their way to their last class today. She, however, was looking for the next person on her list. Gilda. She took a look at everyone who passed her as she waited for the corridor to clear. As usual, it was as if there was a small magical barrier around her, as everyone was sure to give her room. She sighed, Still doing this, are we? As she waited, the corridor slowly cleared up, leaving only the late comers, and those with a free period. She removed the eye patch, finally fed up with the lack of vision, and threw it in her locker. Just when she was about to close it and walk off, she heard light footsteps approach her. "Sunset!" she recognized the voice of Diamond Tiara behind her, but didn't bother to turn around. "I'm... I'm sorry I ignored you... You were right, right about everything. I should have listened to you." "Then why are you here?" Sunset asked dryly. "Well, I, I need your help." she replied weakly. "You need MY help?" Diamond gave a small mumble, "After ignoring everything I told you, you expect me to help you? Did you really think I was just wasting my time with you two? That I had nothing better to do?" Anger was beginning to grow in her voice. "I I-" "I was trying to help you, I told you what you should do, and what the consequences were, but you just wouldn't listen to me would you!?" she said, still facing away from Tiara. "I know," Tiara replied weakly. "No," Sunset said sternly, "You can forget it, I'm not gonna waste any more of my breath on you, because clearly, I'm just wasting my time!" She slammed her locker shut, the sound echoed through the now empty corridor. "N-no please!" she said desperately, "I'll do whatever you say, I swear!" She shook her head, "What do you even expect me to do about this?" she asked. "Well, you're Sunset Shimmer. There's gotta be something you can do." "Well there's nothing I can do for you now," she said, "I tried, I failed. And there's nothing I can do about this." "Alright, I get it," Diamond sighed, "But, can you just tell Silver I'm sorry? I don't think she cares to hear it from me." "Do it yourself. I'm done wth you!" Sunset said spitfully. She took a step forward, but suddenly felt Diamond's arms wrap around her stomach. She finally turned her head around, and looked down at the girl. "Let me GO!!" "Please, Sunset, I'm begging you!" Sunset was suddenly speechless, and all her anger seemed to disappear as soon as she saw her. Her face was covered in tears, and her eyes, full of pure desperation. She felt the girl trembling against her back. "J-just tell me what to do, and I'll do it, I-I'll listen this time I swear!" Diamond buried her head in the back of Sunset's shirt as she cried, "I promise I'll listen." "I..." Sunset couldn't help but think back to herself at the Fall Formal. When she crawled out of that crator, she felt exactly the same as Diamond seemed to be feeling now. She had lost everything, all because of a stupid mistake, and all she wanted now was to make up for it, however she could. When that came to her mind, she simply couldn't say no anymore. "Alright," she said in a gentle tone. Diamond looked up at her in disbelief, "W-what?" she asked weakly. "I'll help you." she smiled back. "Really?" Sunset pushed Tiara off, so she could turn herself around to properly face her. She knelt down in front of Dia, and gave her a hug, which she happily returned. "Thank you, Sunset," Diamond cried into her shoulder. "But why? Why help me? you just sai-" "Because I know what you're going through." Sunset replied, as tears began to fill her own eyes, "I know what it feels like to be alone, to want another try at something, to wish you never been so stupid in the first place. And like I said, I don't want you to go through that." Tiara felt a small wetness on her shoulders "Are you... Why are you crying?" she asked. "Bad memorise. That's all," Sunset replied softly, "Nothing you need to worry yourself with." Sunset felt a strange comfort in this. Even if it wasn't to the same extent, as she had done something a lot worse that Diamond, she felt comfortable having someone who understood how she felt right next to her. "So, what do I do?" Diamond asked, finally breaking the hug. "Nothing right now," Sunset replied, wiping her eyes, "You want to go make up with Silver, and the others, right?" Dia nodded, "Well, judging from how Silver looked in there, you need to give her some time to cool down, and go from there." "So, just lea-" she cut herself off, now knowing it was better to not question Sunset. "Alright, you know what you're doing." "Of course I do." In reality, Sunset had no idea what she was going to do. She had been able to do this by being sent back in time, something Diamond couldn't exactly do, and from the little show earlier, she knew it was going to take a lot more than time and a simple apology to solve this.