Tell Me Baby

by Gpizano

Never All That Hard To Find

"So... she's just been sitting there since you left?"

"Yes. It would appear so."

Standing outside and looking through the window into Sugarcube Cafe, Sweetie Belle could see Twilight Sparkle sitting in a corner booth, elbows resting on the table with her fingers folded together, hiding the lower part of her face while her bangs hid her eyes. Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie sat on either side of her, nervous and appearing not to even attempt engaging in a conversation. From what Rarity had told her upon picking her up from home, Twilight had come to their world searching for Sunset Shimmer. She had run into Applejack and Rainbow Dash who had no choice but to tell her the truth. According to Rarity who had heard it from there, Twilight had looked completely shocked, then ready to explode, but then it all just seemed to diffuse... and then she became very quiet, only asking if they knew who Anon-A-Miss was and then to go to Sugarcube Cafe where she could meet with Anon-A-Miss and the rest of the girls.

Sweetie Belle could feel her stomach twisting into knots and she looked to her older sister in hopes of comfort. Only to be disappointed when she saw the older girl wasn't looking at her. It was different from being ignored when the other was busy, she was purposefully putting distance between them. She hated this more. The awkwardness, how glib Rarity was with her, Sweetie Belle would have given anything to have things back to the way they were but she knew that wasn't going to happen for a long time.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Applejack and Rainbow Dash walking up with Applebloom and Scootaloo respectively. Scootaloo still sported a black eye and a couple bruises on her face from the assault in the cafeteria four days ago but at the least the swelling had gone down. It looked like there was just as much distance between them as her and Rarity. But at least they could give each other moral support as they were herded into Sugarcube Cafe and made to walk all the way up to the table where Twilight Sparkle sat. All five of the older girls looked nervously to Twilight Sparkle, her eyes still shadowed by her bangs as Spike jumped up onto the table, sitting to Twilight's right as he simply stared at the three girls before them.

"... I guess I shouldn't be surprised it was you three. Your counterparts in my world did something similar, yet they never drove anyone away. I'm curious to know your reasons for doing this."

All three girls shivered at both the way Twilight spoke and when she finally raised her head enough that they could see her eyes. The way in which she spoke was reserved and coldly analytical, her eyes holding the same glint but Applebloom almost swore it was like she was guarding against something. Under such a gaze, they didn't dare to look at each other, didn't dare to move and it was almost tempting to stop breathing. Finally, Applebloom took a deep breath and a half step forward, catching the the princess of friendship's full attention.

"It was all mah idea Twilight. Ah started all o' this 'cause Ah was jealous of all the time mah sister was spending with Sunset Shimmer. Ah wanted her time n' attention so badly Ah thought makin' her hate Sunset Shimmer again would do the trick. It was a selfish, bad thing to do, it was the wrong way ta' go 'bout it."

Before Twilight could speak up though, Scootaloo took a step forward as well.

"I know we can't undo the damage and saying sorry won't cut it, but we're going to do our best to make up for this for as long as it takes. We know we screwed up and whatever you want to say, go ahead cause we deserve that on top of everything else coming to us."

"And we feel really bad okay?! We've just felt like the worst and we want to try and make up for it and help find Sunset Shimmer but we can't because we're grounded and stuff and we're just feeling even worse. So please just say what you have to say, I don't think we can feel any worse but you sitting their silently is really scary!"

Really Applebloom and Scootaloo wished their friend had been a little more composed but they could share the sentiment. They didn't think that Twilight could make them feel more horrible than how they had made themselves over the past few days, but they certainly deserved the oncoming tongue lashing.

... which didn't seem to be immediately coming...

Instead, Twilight gave out a long, low sigh as she leaned back in her seat and crossed her arms as she continued to study them.

"Saying that was the wrong way to go is perhaps one of the biggest understatements I have ever heard Applebloom."

Her finger tapped against her arm a moment as she looked to some spot on the other side of the cafe, still quite reserved but seeming to contemplate what she would say next.

"... so. Are you angry?"

Mentally both Scootaloo and Applebloom face palmed.

"Angry? Of course I am. You three destroyed my friend's life for the most petulant of reasons and you kept the charade going to the point the school tore itself apart. To see so many friendships destroyed because of your actions... yes. I am very angry."

A pause, the three could feel their hearts thudding hard against their chests as they waited.

"But where would be the point in me taking that out on you? After what you did, I'm sure you've alienated yourselves from just about everyone in school. You've received punishment both there and at home. And you may very well have irreparably damaged the bond you had with your siblings. What more can I do when you have already succeeded in destroying yourselves?"

All three girls stared at the ground, a lead weight in their stomachs and hearts heavy since they knew what Twilight had said was true.

"As for the rest of you..."

Now it was time for the five older girls to stiffen, unsure what to expect but full of dread after what Twilight had said. The pony turned human closed her eyes and rubbed her right temple, taking a deep breath in through her nose before exhaling softly.

"I am... so disappointed in all of you. I told you to watch out for Sunset Shimmer, to be her friends. She pulled us all together and helped us succeed in defeating the sirens at the Battle of the Bands. Did you even wonder why she would share your secrets? What possible gain that she had from doing it? And just how uncharacteristically sloppy it was that all clues pointed to her? Or that someone could have stolen it without her knowing or hacked her phone? I spent so little time in this world but even I learned about your technology and how there are those that could bypass it's methods of security if they really wanted to."

All five girls looked very low at this point, looking anywhere but Twilight and with Fluttershy literally almost so low she could almost hide under the table they were sitting at. Twilight gave a hollow, whispery laugh as she shook her head, eyes still closed and a bitter smile on her face.

"When Applejack and Rainbow Dash first told me that Sunset Shimmer was missing and how none of you stuck by her... I just wanted to explode. Because I had thought I'd been wrong when entrusting humans to teach the values of friendship. I've read the history books at the library, I've known of the violence. But then I realized... I should have seen this coming a mile away since this situation has happened before."

Once she opened her eyes and saw the curious looks, she was about to explain when the door opened, a strange man she vaguely recognized as the high school's janitor stepped in. He spotted them and gave a crooked smile as he approached and as she got a better look at him, she realized he looked a bit like her world's Discord.

"Twilight Sparkle! So good to see you again! Back for a romp through our dimension?"

Blinking once, Twilight felt a tad uncomfortable since he was interrupting and sticking his nose in, but kept cool as she gave a nod.

"Yes. I was here to find Sunset Shimmer-"

"Oh yes, terrible news about that. First the Anon-A-Miss thing, then she runs off and now our dear Principal Celestia is resigning and being thrown to the mob. Not very happy holidays so far."

"Wait, what?!"

"Happy holidays? Oh none around here I'm afraid-"

"No! The other part, about Principal Celestia resigning!"

Jarred out of his random train of thought, the man sighed, appearing genuinely sad now.

"Yes. I'm afraid it's true. After the incident Friday, she's had no choice but to resign and catch hell for it. At least this way we won't run the risk of CHS closing and she has managed to wrangle a successor, but to see her leave on such a sour note..."

All the girls were aghast at the news, Applejack needing to take a seat, Pinkie Pie's hair completely deflated as Rarity burst into silent tears. Twilight Sparkle leaned back against her seat, staring down at the table while Spike whimpered softly, concerned by the devastated look on her face. Even if it wasn't her world's Celestia... to see a version of her put through this...

"By the by, have any of you simply tried calling Sunset Shimmer?"

This smart aleck quip from Discord was enough to break Rainbow Dash out of her trance and glare angrily at him.

"Of course we have you moron! We can't get through!"

"Hmmm... then let me try!"

His hand raised up, holding a cell phone that suspiciously looked a lot like Applejack's where he flipped through the contacts as he fished out his own phone from his jacket and dialed the number. He held it to his ear and waited patiently before a big, toothy grin came to his face.

"Helloooo, Miss Sunset Shimmer yes? I'm calling to offer you our fabulous clearing house prize-"

"Hey, gimme that!"

Standing up, an angry and almost hopeful Applejack reached out to swipe her phone back but stopped when Twilight spoke up.

"Discord. Please give me the phone."

"Welllll, since you said the magic word."

Fluttershy quickly scrambled out of the booth to let Twilight slide out, the princess calmly reaching out and taking the cell phone from Discord before stepping outside to privately chat with Sunset Shimmer. As much as all five of the girls wished to speak with Sunset, to apologize or at least even hear the one half of the conversation, they all stayed where they were. A thoroughly depressed Pinkie Pie glanced over at Spike.

"You must think we're the worst, huh?"

"Well... honestly I can say I can understand what you're going through."

All eyes stared curiously at the small, smiling dog, even Discord who wasn't even the least bit fazed to hear a talking dog on a Tuesday. Then Spike frowned before speaking again.

"But yeah, you all screwed up pretty bad."

---

After seeing the last message in her book, Sunset Shimmer had just been staring at the ceiling for the past hour, not knowing what to do. She had no way of contacting Twilight now, outside of contacting her ex friends and there was no way she was doing that. The red head literally felt stuck and had no idea what to do until her train of thought was interrupted by a knock at the bedroom door.

"You decent in there?"

After Sunset answered in the affirmative, Jackie opened the door, sighing softly as she shrugged off the case to her acoustic guitar and put it in the closet next to the case holding her electric guitar.

"Today sucked. No jobs and some asshole tried to steal money out of my guitar case. Looks like yours sucked too, what's up?"

When she was met with silence, the blue haired woman let out another sigh.

"Fine, one of those things more personal than 'the asshole upstairs is being too loud again', right? I'll leave you to it."

Once Jackie had close the door behind her, Sunset Shimmer sat up and stretched out her back. She had decided not to drag Jackie further into her drama, there wasn't a point since she definitely didn't want to be friends. Sure, it would of been nice to have a long talk with Jackie again like they'd had on the drive out to Los Pegasus. But this also hit a little too close to home, a friend from her hometown, would Jackie get suspicious with how vague she was being? Magic was one thing, at least she only sounded weird, but alternate horse dimension? If Jackie told the wrong person then who knew what would happen to her. Even though Jackie hadn't told anyone else about Anon-A-Miss as far as she could tell...

Her thoughts were interrupted when her phone began to ring. She'd taken to leaving it on recently and just blocked out her ex friends, but this ring tone was different. Signaling an unknown caller. Out of curiosity, she took it off the night stand and looked at the ID. No recognition. Who the hell was calling her? Finally she decided to satisfy her curiosity and answered.

"Hello?"

"Helloooo, Miss Sunset Shimmer yes? I'm calling to offer you our fabulous clearing house prize-"

Raising a brow, the red head thought that she recognized a voice on the other side until it seemed as if the phone was handed off before more background noise followed.

"Hello?"

"Sunset?"

Her heart stopped.

"... Twilight?"

"Thank Celestia! I thought something had happened to you. Where are you? Are you okay?"

Knowing that she couldn't avoid the deluge of questions, Sunset Shimmer rubbed her forehead and steeled herself.

"I'm fine. I just... I left town and I'm staying with someone. I'm fine Twilight, I promise, I just... I couldn't stand to be there anymore."

"I know..."

"No, you don't... Twilight, I know what you're going to say. How that it was bad but I should try to make up with my friends and all of that, but you don't know how it feels to-"

"To be abandoned? To think that your friends would be on your side no matter what? To feel crushed knowing you were wrong as they leave your side? To feel angry at them, to feel disappointed... maybe even to feel that there was something wrong with you that they wouldn't take your side? As it felt like your entire world was crashing down even as it felt everything was suffocating you?"

"... how?"

"I know I told you about my brother's wedding..."

Teal eyes widened considerably as Sunset Shimmer recalled the story. Of course. Twilight had, correctly, accused her brother's fiance of being an imposter, having seen all signs that she was not acting as the real Cadence would. But she had burst in during the rehearsal and the fake had used it to her advantage, ultimately causing all of Twilight's friends, her brother, Celestia, and even Spike to turn against her and abandon her.

"... how did you deal with it Twi?"

There was a pause on the other side, long enough that Sunset Shimmer had leaned back against the wall the head of the bed was against as she waited. Finally, there came a soft sigh.

"It was hard. I still cared for them, we had a duty to function as the elements of harmony. And I wanted to give Cadence the best wedding she ever had after all she had been through. But I could still feel all of those negative feelings gnawing away inside of me. Even though they had been fooled by the Changeling queen and acting like a jealous brat had worked against me... I still felt at least one of them should have stuck by my side."

There came a sound from the other side, soft and hard to hear, but Sunset Shimmer thought it sounded like a sniffle.

"Sunset... I understand what you're going through. I'm still disappointed and angry with them, and I'm not going to ask that you forgive them now. But... I know there's still good in them, otherwise they wouldn't be so remorseful. And I know their counterparts. Sunset, if in the future you find you still care for them and if you want to. Just talk to them, that's all I ask. From there it's up to you to decide if you want to be friends again."

"... I'll think about it."

"Good. I have to go, I'm using Discord's phone. And I'll return to Equestria so that we can talk more... okay?"

"Okay."

"And Sunset... please don't close yourself off. Wherever you are I'm sure there's at least one person you can trust to be your friend."

"Right. I'll talk to you by book later Twilight."

"Bye Sunset."

After she hung up, Sunset Shimmer slid down so that she was lying on her back, an arm over her eyes and cell phone clenched tightly in her hand.

... when had the damn CD reached the end and stopped playing?

Author's Note:

BOOM! JANITOR DISCORD EX MACHINA!

But yeah, I toyed around what to do with this chapter and figured this would be the best.

And yet another day I put out two chapters.

Comments

[diablo4000]

What Spike said. Yeah...so did they talk about it later together, and did this Twilight geta proper apology from the mane five?
Glad Sunset talked to Twilight and glad didn;t tell her what happen to Celestia, it would break her.

[Uria the Sacred Beast]

Wonder who the replacement will be?...oh god, I hope its not Tirek or something!

[Gpizano]

7485070 I leave that up to the imagination of the people but to me, I think Twilight repressed her feeling for awhile and it was a slow process coming to terms and stuff.

[Gpizano]

7485176 Ah such a deliciously evil thought but no.

[Uria the Sacred Beast]

7485845 Its fun to think who would be where. IE, Sombra the gym teacher who yells through the megaphone all the time in incomprehensible shouts.

[Lord Nopony]

Great work! This was an excellent chapter!

[shadowstar618]

Janitor discord ftw

[Gpizano]

7488458 Yush, my little Discord ex Machina I can pull out when needed. XD

[Akwolfgrl13]

Oh discord lol.