Sunset was taken back. “You two dated?”
“Yes, for about a year, but after a while I just… didn’t have the same affection for her as I did before. I broke up with her just as you started to tear our group apart. She thinks it was you who made me break up with her,” Fluttershy said with sorry eyes.
“Didn’t you tell her otherwise?” Sunset asked Fluttershy, getting a bit mad.
“Yes, but she didn’t believe me. She still believed it was because of you, and when Rainbow is sure of something, there’s no changing her mind.”
“Ain’t that the truth?” Applejack added, “Now come on there sugarcube, sittin' on the ground like that ain’t gonna help anyone.”
Applejack helped Sunset up and Rarity offered her a napkin to dry her eyes and blow her nose. Sunset gladly accepted it and used it. She looked around at the group before speaking.
“Thank you, all of you. This is more then I deserve after all I’ve done.”
“Nonsense, girl. You don’t need to thank us, and you haven’t done nothin' that would make Rainbow right to say that,” Applejack assured her, “Now come sit down with us. Only thing that can make ya feel better is a good time with friends.”
“Well, alright,” Sunset said, making her way towards the table the group was originally sitting at. Pinkie rushed up to her and looked Sunset up and down, scrutinizing every detail. She quickly turned to Applejack.
“Nurse Applejack, we need 50cc of cupcakes! Stat!” she exclaimed.
“Pinkie, Ah just bought you lunch,” Applejack said with a sigh.
“I said, ‘stat’! Do you want us to lose our patient, woman?” Pinkie nearly screamed, shaking Applejack.
“Ugh, fine, but you definitely owe me Pinkie.” Applejack and Pinkie walked down towards the cupcake shop. Well, Applejack walked. Pinkie bounced, as she always did. Sunset just sat down and watched them go, giggling a bit at Pinkie's antics and wondering if that was Pinkie’s plan all along or if Pinkie just desperately wanted cupcakes. Maybe a bit of both, if I know her well enough, she thought wryly. It didn’t even occur to her that she didn’t really know Pinkie that well. The pink-haired girl just gave off the impression that if you met her once, you knew what she was all about.
“My, Sunset,” Rarity said, bringing Sunset out of her thoughts, “Where did you get such fashionable clothing? Twenty-First Century Fashion? European Hawk? Ponder?“
“Well, um, actually I got all my clothes from Goodcharity. Heh, it’s all I can really get," Sunset replied meekly
“Oh… Well I have to say, you still look fabulous, darling. Stop over by my parents' shop and I can provide you with some… less-used clothes.”
“But I can’t pay for it, Rarity. I don’t want to mooch off people. It makes me feel like I can’t do anything for myself.”
“Don’t worry, darling. My family’s shop might not be a brand name store, but we make enough money to get by, and my parents know me well enough to know to allow me to do as I please with our products, I can easily make more, as can my parents.”
“Are you sure?”
“Absolutely, Sunset. What are friends for?”
“A-are we really friends?” Sunset looked up at Rarity.
“Well, as of right now, Sunset, I’ll say 'yes'. you need friends, especially after how tactless Rainbow has been, and if what Fluttershy said is true. It will take a bit before I think I’ll be fully comfortable with you, but you seem to be well on your way to being one of our full friends, despite our past.”
“But that’s just it, Rarity. I don’t want you guys’ pity. I want to make friends normally, not just because I can’t take the consequences of my actions,” Sunset snapped, getting angrier as she went on, even to the point of standing up out of her chair. Fluttershy stood up and rubbed Sunset’s back lightly, trying to calm her down.
“Sometimes, Sunset, friendship works in weird ways. Just because it isn’t how the other girls and I met or how other people meet friends doesn’t mean it’s the wrong way. Sometimes, it takes events like this to bring people together. Don’t be mad at it. I’d say you should embrace the fact you’re on the way to making friends.”
“Yea… I guess you’re right, Fluttershy. Thank you. I’m sorry for yelling, Rarity. This week has been hell and a half. I guess I’ve been lucky that Fluttershy has been here to help.” Sunset felt Fluttershy hug her, and she happily hugged back, albeit after a slight moment of surprise. Rarity tilted her head slightly before answering.
“It’s no problem. I understand fully, and, might I add, you couldn’t have chosen a better and more caring person if you tried,” she said with a smile. Sunset and Fluttershy both blushed, Fluttershy more deeply.
“Wait, what?” Sunset asked. Fluttershy made a slicing motion on her throat, She was behind Sunset slightly, so Sunset didn’t see. Rarity took the hint.
“Oh, I apologize. I guess I was seeing things that weren’t there… Now, where are Pinkie and Applejack with the cupcakes,” Rarity said, changing the subject and looking towards where the pink-haired girl and her farmgirl friend had gone. To her luck, they were on their way back, carrying trays of cupcakes. Applejack did not look happy.
“When you said '50cc', Pinkie, Ah didn’t think you meant 50 cupcakes. This was expensive. Ah’m not made of money, you know.”
“Well, duh, Applejack! What did you think 'cc' stood for? It stands for ‘cupcakes'!” Pinkie said, raising one up and eating it.
“Ugh, Ah shoulda seen that comin', huh?”
“Yep,” Pinkie exclaimed as she placed a cupcake matching each friend’s hair color in front of their respective owners. They all smiled, including Sunset, and started to eat the cupcakes.
“How much were all of these, Applejack?” Sunset asked as she licked the icing off her red and yellow cupcake.
“More than Ah care to spend on cupcakes ever again,” she said, glancing at Pinkie.
“I told you I’d pay you back after I do a couple parties, Applejack,” Pinkie said, eating two cupcakes at once.
“Ya better, and no, ya can’t pay me back in balloons like you did last time. That was a one time thing.”
“Fiiiiiiiiine, I’ll pay you in actual money then.” Sunset giggled as she watched the two friends interact. She couldn’t help but be happy about joining the group, even with the way it started. She was pretty much forced to laugh at anything Pinkie did, she could relate to the hardworking Applejack, and she felt she could talk to Rarity about almost anything and have a decent enough conversation with her. Of course, there were flaws with them all, but she wasn’t in short supply of those herself. But then, there was Fluttershy. Her savior. Sunset could talk to her about her own feelings, something she wasn’t comfortable doing with the others yet. She also was going to be living with Fluttershy for a little bit. All of this helped Sunset feel… safe with Fluttershy. Then, there was what Rarity said. Sunset didn’t need to be a genius to know what Rarity meant. Did she like Fluttershy in that way? She thought Fluttershy was pretty, and she knew she could talk to her about her feelings, so it was a possibility. Sunset, however, didn’t know what Fluttershy thought of her, so she decided to just wait and see. Though she read in different novels that you shouldn’t wait for that kind of thing.
“…Huh, Sunset?” Pinkie brought Sunset out of her thoughts.
“Wha? Sorry, I was thinking of something.”
“I asked if you heard that the school should be finished with the repairs by Monday?”
“Oh, no, I didn’t. That’s good, though.”
“Yea, then we can get rid of one of the only reminders left of you being all ‘Rawr! I will take over the world!’” Applejack elbowed Pinkie in the side, and Pinkie looked at the embarrassed-looking Sunset. She quickly added, “Sorry.”
“It’s alright, Pinkie,” Sunset sighed, "I know I can’t run away or forget my past.”
“But you don’t have to be defined by your past, either, Sunset,” Rarity said, “The past is there so we learn from it, which I think you did.”
“Trust me, I think I learned.”
“So, Applejack, do you want to buy us all drinks? Those cupcakes need to be washed down with something,” Pinkie asked Applejack with a wink. The result was a glare from Applejack and laughter from everyone else.
Fluttershy and Sunset went home a few hours later, the same way they had gotten there. This time, however they went more slowly, enjoying the forest as they walked.
“So how did you like meeting our friends?” Fluttershy asked.
“It was nice. I like all of them,” Sunset responded.
“That’s great. I told you all you needed to do was meet them.”
“Yeah. I’m just worried about Rainbow. I don’t want to ruin you guys' friendship with her.”
“Rainbow will calm down and apologize eventually, and we’ll take her back--we know how she can be--but only if she apologizes. What she said was not appropriate at all. Oh! Here, take my hand; this area of the forest can be hard to navigate what it gets darker.”
It was, in fact, dark, so she decided to take Fluttershy’s advice and took her hand. She blushed a bit as she did so, but then mentally laughed at herself. Look at yourself. You’re getting so worked up about this. She decided to change the subject.
“So, what are we doing tomorrow?”
“Hmm, well, I had nothing planned, so I guess we can just play it by ear, if that’s okay with you.”
“Yeah, that sounds nice. What about during school? We have different classes.”
“I know the perfect spot to have lunch, if you want.”
“Sure, that sounds nice.”
“It’s a date, then,” Fluttershy said, giggling slightly.