15 - Hello Again Friend of A Friend
“So?” Twilight crossed her arms, sitting down on the Apple family couch while Applejack got the fireplace running to heat up the cold, dark room. “What happened?”
“Well, it started a few days ago.” Applejack sighed, face in her hands as she sat across from the princess, “Feels like months at this point. We have this website called MyStable. We use it to keep in touch, share photos and the like, whole school does. Ya see, outta nowhere one mornin’, an embarrassing family secret of mine had gotten posted and made me a school laughin’ stock.” She continued to explain, keeping her eyes down on the floor.
Twilight nodded in understanding, leaning forward to listen with her nestled hands pressed tightly against her mouth. Her face showed no expression, simply absorbing what the cowgirl had to say.
“Ah...held mah head high and tried to ignore it, hard as it was, and made it t’ the end of the day. Girls an’ ah had another sleepover at Rare’s and Sunset took some dumb photos of us all on her phone.” AJ grit her teeth, “Next mornin’ all those pictures were up as well.”
“So you blamed her?” Twilight asked, bringing her mouth from her hands for a moment to speak.
“...we did, yes.” She nodded, “We confronted her about it and she denied it. Only recently was the real culprit revealed.” Applejack sat back, rubbing her face and groaning, “We were so sure of ourselves too. The whole school was. Nearly, at least. Nearly the whole school.”
“ ...Nearly?” Twilight asked, before pausing. “Rainbow.”
“Rainbow.” AJ sighed, “She stayed with her from the start, and it seems that landed her in a whole mess a trouble. Couple students stole Fluttershy’s phone and decided to deal with things themselves. Tricked them over to CHS after hours to ‘teach them a lesson’.”
Twilight flinched, biting her lip as she listened. When Applejack went silent again, she frowned, “So… They ran off for safety reasons.”
“Ah wanted to hope the same.” She ran a hand through her messy head of hair, looking a lot more tired all of a sudden, “We don’t know the details, and frankly? Ah don’ wanna. Principal Celestia told us that the beatdown left ‘em both in the hospital after it migrated off school property.”
“Then… Did Rainbow’s family move away as well?” Twilight asked.
“No, Rainbow Blaze is still where he’s always been.” She shook her head with a wave of the hand, “Again...dunno the details, but there seems to be magic involved at this point. Pinkie, Rarity, and I have been brainstormin’ some way to apologize, b-but we’re kinda stumped. Ah mean…” The farmer buried her head in her hands, starting to shake as she continued, “W-we never coulda seen this comin’, right? C-come on, ah mean we screwed up. Massively! But w-we couldn’t know this would happen!”
“What about Fluttershy?” Twilight asked.
Applejack did her best to pull herself together, not falling off the deep end quite yet. With a wipe of her eyes, she continued on, “Ah dunno...she ran outta the meetin’ we had yesterday. Said she had somethin’ to do an was jus’ gone.”
“So none of you have tried to actually approach them, then?” Twilight asked, “To talk to them? To apologise?” Her hands were shaking, but her face stayed neutral.
“We...well how’re we supposed to?” She grasped aimlessly, “Twi, we’re a group a people that refused to talk over some faked texts. Now we purposefully turned our heads away and it nearly got two of our friends killed!” AJ gasped out, visible tears falling now as she went back to burying her face in her hands. If she wasn’t so focused on the topic at hand, she might’ve heard the sound of retreating feet up the stairs.
Twilight sighed, standing and pulling AJ over to the couch, “Come on, sit down. Listen, I’m going to try and help you all make up with Sunset and Dash, okay? Is that everything you know?”
“It's all I can remember for certain…” She nodded, being led with no resistance, “R-really? Yer gonna help?”
“Yes.” Twilight said curtly, “I’m going to help right this mistake you girls have made. You’re all going to face her, and you’re all going to apologise.” Her face was beginning to melt into one of stern determination, like a disappointed teacher staring down at her student.
AJ leaned back a little, Twilight’s expression one that was sadly familiar to her from a few of her younger years, “R-right. We wanna, we jus’ dunno how.” She assured, “...d’ya need a place to stay fer the night?”
“Yes, I do need one. And, tomorrow, you’re going to call the girls here. We clearly all need to have a chat.” She said, crossing her arms.
“‘Course.” She nodded, still looking sheepish, “We screwed up. We know that. We want to fix it. Try at the least.”
“Well, I can’t assure you it’ll work. No one can assure you of that. I’m going to do my best, but it sounds like it comes down to Sunset in the end. ...We’ll see how that goes.”
“Ah understand that. Ah mean...our friendship was demolished over a misunderstandin’ once already. Wouldn’t be too surprised to get half the responses ah expect.” She sighed, flopping onto her back and staring up at the ceiling, “...ah really can’t believe this happened again. So soon too.” She was silent for a few more seconds, “We can't be this stupid, can we?”
Twilight put a hand to her temple, massaging it for a moment. “No. No, you’re not stupid. But clearly, only Dash learned from the last time.” She looked up, “How many times will it take, Applejack? Two? Three? When do you finally decide that putting your faith in your friends is worth your individual risk?”
“...I don’ know.” She said quietly, closing her eyes.
“Well, you’ll have to figure that out soon.” Twilight stood from the couch, “Now, where am I staying for the night?”
“Ya can take mah room if ya like, Twi. Ah’m havin’ trouble sleepin’ at this point anyways.” AJ yawned, seeming content on the couch now. “Make yerself at home. Ah’ll be up’n the mornin’ to explain everything to Granny n’ Big Mac.”
“Thank you. We’ll talk about this more in the morning.” She nodded back at her fr-...at Applejack as she headed up the stairs, doubtful that a restful sleep awaited her.
Dash leapt up into the air, swinging her leg forwards in a hard kick to send the soccer ball back to its source, “Don’t think so!” The chromatic girl grinned, seeing it spiral over her competitor’s head.
“Dammit, Dash!” Sunset frowned, “We’re just hanging out, this isn’t a championship!”
“Either way, I’d be the winner.” Dash teased back, sticking her tongue out. Around her, a light snow began to fall over the grassy field. “Huh? Where’d those clouds come from? There wasn’t anything about snowfall today...was there?”
“Nevermind the snow, Dash. What are we going to do about you?” Sunset asked, suddenly standing next to her.
Rainbow flinched, hopping back in fright as the girl appeared like that, pale skin seeming to radiate cold. “S-sunset?! What happened to your-oh…” She put a hand to her head, surprise dropping to a sad realization, “Stanza, duh. I’m...dreaming, aren’t I?”
Everything seemed to come into focus, the area becoming sharp and colorful despite the darkened hues splashed around thanks to the clouds high above. The dream Stanza nodded, “Indeed you are. Glad you noticed. Makes this all the easier to-STOP THAT!”
Rainbow had quickly lost focus, turning away and swinging her arms like an opera conductor, the ground before her undulating and molding itself to her whim. “Why? Not often I have a lucid dream! Lemme play God for a few hours!”
Sunset snapped her fingers impatiently, “Dash! This is serious, pay attention. ...Then you can play God as long as you like.”
“Oh come on, Stanz. I just went through Hell. Let me relax!” She pouted, watching pieces of the sky liquify and sprinkle down on the blonde-bluenette.
“I just said you can relax in a second! Stay on target, then you can do whatever. I’ll just be, like, a few minutes.”
“Ugh, fine.” She rolled her eyes, freezing the transformed scenery in place and letting her attention drift back over, crossing her arms and staring at the other, “So...you’re not really Sunset, obviously. So...what the heck are ya?”
“I’m you, obviously. I just took up Sunset’s form because we listen to her more than anyone else.” ‘Sunset’ snickered.
“H-hey! Sunset’s smart and my friend, a course I listen to her!”
“Then listen to this: How in the heck do we figure out how to deal with dark magicky demon stuff?”
“...yep, you’re still me.” Dash deadpanned, looking down at herself. Her skin had paled and the blank red shirt had returned as well. She sighed, “So it's how we see ourselv-myself?” She shook her head, “I dunno. Just...roll with it? Hope Sunset knows? I just-I barely know how the music stuff works! We played a song and then we shot lasers from a giant blue horse!”
“Well, we gotta figure out something! This isn’t a game. Not just some ‘play a guitar and somehow win by a long shot’ shit. We need to figure this out, and from what the Shadowbolts were saying, it had something to do with our insides or whatever.”
“Dude, seriously?” Dash twisted her face, frowning at her, “Don’t be weird.”
“I know, gross right? ...We’re getting off topic! Point is, we gotta control ourselves or everything will go wacko. So let’s suck up some shit.”
“...wait what?” Dash blinked, “I don’t-wait what?”
“-Get our mind out of the gutter! We have some emotional problems to solve.”
“You first!...me first?” She shook her head again, “I don’t have any emotional problems! ...I’m just mad!”
“Dude, you know that’s totally emotional problems right?”
“Just cause I’m a bit grumpy about getting abandoned and nearly killed, doesn’t mean I’m screwed up!” Dash defended with a frown, turning away a bit as if that drove the point home further.
“We’re not screwed up, dude, we just need to stop lashing out with our anger!”
“When did I lash out?!...not counting the demon thing, that wasn’t...really me.” She coughed into her fist.
“Uh, yeah, it was. It was totally us, just subconsciously.”
“But you’re supposed to be that, right?” She blinked, “So doesn’t that mean you did all that?!”
“I’m still you, Egghead!”
“I’MNOTANEGGHEAD!”
“YOU’RE BEING ONE!”
“I’m not talking the weird psycho-analyst crap and using the weird magicky terms!”
“YOU’RE TALKING TO YOURSELF RIGHT NOW!”
“I-you-SHUTUP!” Dash waved her arms, eye twitching heavily as she ground her teeth. Dash quickly realized that she was only proving her own point...to herself. This was getting confusing.
“Point is, this anger is just dragging us down. We need to figure out how we can let go of it. ...Like, is there a cliff we could throw it off of, maybe?”
“...if I throw a physical manifestation of anger off an imaginary cliff, will that work?” She blinked, actually considering it.
“I dunno. Worth a shot.” ‘Sunset’ shrugged in reply.
“...if you die in the game, you die in real life.”
“We’re drifting again.”
“Should I be saying ‘you’, ‘me’, or ‘we’?” She rubbed her head, confusion not going anywhere. The fact that she was technically confusing herself didn't help.
“THAT DOESN’T MATTER RIGHT NOW! ...Just use ‘we’, it’s a lot better. BUT IT STILL DOESN’T MATTER!”
“Okay! Jeez, chill.” She snorted, a shit-eating grin cracking through not long after. The snow continued to fall around the two.
“Ha. Now are we gonna throw anger off a cliff and make a dumb grunting noise or what?”
“I dunno, sounds kinda dumb after saying it aloud again and five seconds of thought.” Dash shrugged back, “That and even with all the crazy shiz goin’ down, I really doubt it’d be that easy to control a literal demon living inside of us.” She slapped a hand to her head, “No, wait, it's still us. That’s not another chick. God, this is weird. Is this an Equestrian magic thing in general? Does Sunset have dreams like this?”
“You look at me like I know any of those answers. I know I look like Sunset, but I’m not. If I were Sunset, I’d probably have a big, complex explanation of magic we’d only half-get and kinda zone out of midway through and stare at her-”
Dash awoke in her bed with her face on fire. Without even a word to the drowsy Sunset waking up in the recliner, she darted past into the bathroom. Sunset recognized the sound of the shower not long after.
“...Dash?”
“I SWEAR WE WERE GONNA SAY FACE!”
Sunset blinked blankly, staring at the shut door in utter confusion. She had days where she’d wake up and feel whether it’d be a good day or bad day based on the first few moments, but this felt like neither. More like an incredibly strange day, a strange week by this point. Sunset let out a long sigh, hopping up and heading to use the shower down the hall.
Thankfully, Dash seemed to be much more collected by the time they had arrived at the police station. Even so, she still was adamant about not saying a word in relation to what had actually happened that morning. “You sure you’re okay? I know I keep asking, but still. All things considered, we can’t have you going off in here.” The two had their hoods up just in case anyone else was out and about. Given the adults they could see pacing around both outside and within the doors of the station, the two got a good feeling that the officers had been busy for the past few hours at the least.
“Yeah, I think that whole electricity thing last night is the last time you’ll see me outta control like that.” Dash nodded, watching the cops as they scurried around. “But what do we tell Dust?”
“What do we tell her?” Sunset tilted her head, “Well let’s hear her out first. Considering she just outed everyone for us?” She whispered, making sure no one was paying the duo any real attention, “I think it's the least we can do for her.”
“Well, cool, I can do that.” Dash nodded, “We can see if I still need to pound her in a few inches.”
“No, Marred.” She sent her a sharp look, “Joke or not, no. Seriously.”
“Yeah, that was a bit far. Sorry.” Dash backed off, rubbing the back of her head, “We hear her out, then we let her out, right?”
“We maybe do so.” Sunset nodded, biting the corner of her lip in thought, “No need to siren her free anymore, if she’s really regretful and all that. Made a deal with Barrage. Let’s just see what goes down.” With that, she stepped up to the main desk and lost her whisper, “Excuse me, we’re looking for Lightspeed Barrage.”
“The chief’s in her office at the moment.” The man behind the desk said, raising an eyebrow, “Is she expecting you?”
“Not necessarily, but she knows us. Can you pass on the names Stanza and Marred?” She requested, “That should be enough.”
“Alright, hold on for a second.” The man put his walkie to his face, asking Barrage if she knew these two.
“Send them in.” Grumbled the woman over the radio.
“You two are free to go in.” He nodded at the two teens, pointing out the door.
The two nodded, scurrying out of the way and through the door in question, “Captain Barrage.” Sunset greeted as Dash shut the door behind them, “Nice to see you again. Sorry about last night. Hope that wasn’t too much of a hassle to deal with.”
“I shouldn’t be saying ‘Oh, it’s normal at this point’, but here we are.” She downed another sip of coffee, “So. You wanted to chat with your friend?”
“I wouldn’t really call her a friend. I hardly know her myself.” Sunset shook her head.
“I do know her, but I still second the ‘not my friend’ comment.” Dash added with a frown.
“But we would like to speak with her, yes.” Sunset confirmed, “I don’t suppose we’d be able to do so?”
“Eh, I already promised I’d let her out if you’re not pressing charges, so sure.” Barrage rose, pulling a few keys from her pocket. “Follow me.” The two trailed behind as the police chief brought them to a side room where another officer looked over three cells. Dust was in the corner of the nearest cell to the door, face buried in her arms.
Sunset raised an eyebrow in amusement, following after her. Thankfully, if the other perpetrators of the attack were indeed here, they were being kept elsewhere in the building. Dust’s cell was isolated, the others of her block currently empty.
“Up ‘n at’em, Lightning Rod.” Dash whistled, catching sight of her.
It seemed that was all that was needed, Dust on her feet in a matter of seconds, staring out of the bars in shock, “Wh-what?...Dash, is that you?”
“No. I’m her cousin, Rainbow Clash.” Dash smirked, “Who’s somehow just as good looking and also knows your nickname.”
“I’m here too by the way.” Sunset deadpanned, “Skipping past the warm welcome though, we wanted to hear if you had anything to say. You turned everyone in after all. So at the very least, and as annoying as it is to have to say this, thank you. The hoops we’d have to jump through to deal with this ourselves, and legally, would’ve been something out of Cirque de Sorei.”
“I don’t think it's called that.” Barrage coughed.
“Whatever. Other than the appreciation, we wanted to hear you out.” Dash leaned back, “So make it good, Dusty.”
“Well…” Lightning shifted her stance, “Look, I was in on the beatdown and thought you were both guilty. I’ll raise my hands and admit to that no problem, and if you actually had been guilty, I wouldn’t feel much remorse for a few punches and kicks. Especially for how Sunset introduced herself back in freshman year.”
“Great start.” Sunset crossed her arms with a tight frown. One of the few days she hadn’t come to regret. True she had made Fluttershy her own verbal punching bag a few days later, but getting Gilda and Dust off her back had to have been a relief for her. Sunset snorted, wiping the memory from her mind.
“BUT!” Dust waved, shaking her head, “Gilda took things way too far, by miles! I had no idea she had something like that planned, for all I know it was last second or something. Even if you were guilty of Anon-a-Miss, or worse, that was screwed up! Of course I squealed on ‘em. It was...well it was just wrong.” She gestured, failing to find a more inventive word.
Dash looked over to Sunset, a questioning expression across her face.
“And you feel remorse?” Sunset raised an eyebrow.
“Yeah.” She sighed, leaning her head against the bars and staring down at the concrete floor, “At first it was just ‘cause we got the wrong guys. Thought I woulda happily beat down on the real culprit, but…” Dust’s face twisted, “No. Revenge-” She paused, running her tongue across her teeth, “It just doesn’t sit right with me. Nothing gained and just more guilt to stain your hands later. Just part of the bullshit cycle.”
Sunset glanced back at Dash, an eyebrow raised and a similar expression. Though she seemed a little more assured now.
“Would you have stood up for us even if Sunset hadn’t knocked you out for the count?” Dash asked, “Had Gilda and her goons started to drag us away, would you have stood up to them?”
“I woulda slipped out and called the cops. I ain’t stupid enough to pull out the soap box in front of like 20 bloodthirsty teenagers.” Dust replied adamantly, “I’m hot-headed, impulsive, and I make bad decisions, but I still have my own set of morals.”
“...Eh, I think that’s good enough for me.” Dash shrugged, looking at Sunset again, “What about you?”
“I believe her.” Sunset nodded, “She put herself at risk in the first place and she clearly doesn’t gain anything personally from this.”
Dust nodded, “I want the same thing now that I did when I agreed to jump you two in the gym. Some form of justice. Taking it into our own hands was stupid for more reasons than what wound up happening.” She sighed, shaking her head, “I just want this all to be over, Anon-a-Miss and everything that came of it.”
“Welp, guess today’s just your lucky day, isn’t it?” Dash nodded towards the officer before standing aside. “We happen to have put in a good word for you.”
“Wait, what?” Dust looked back up, confusion etched in her eyes.
“They agreed to let you go if we didn’t press charges, which we don't plan on.” Sunset nodded, “Though we’d appreciate something in return.”
“...what?” Dust leaned back a bit as the cell block guard opened up her’s.
“We’re meeting a few other Crystal Prep students today. Ones that are in a…’unique’ position.” Sunset nodded, hand glowing for a brief moment to get her point across. “I think I’d prefer to keep a bit of an eye on you for now.”
“That and if any of the others slip through the law for one reason or another and catch wind of who turned them in, you wanna be running around by yourself?” Dash asked, hands on her hips.
“Fair point.” Dust sighed, “Tradin’ one warden for another?”
“No.” Sunset shook her head, “More of a chance to prove it. You wanna apologize for what happened? Good step one. Show us that you want to follow through with it.”
“Alright. Thanks for the second chance.” She nodded, sighing and nearly collapsing in relief as the bars passed by her, cell door open.
Sunset nodded, “I’m familiar with them myself. I just hope I’m not mistaken in giving one for once.”
“Right there with you.” Dash agreed, eyeing Dust a little more hesitantly, but not objecting to the decision, “We just gotta do one thing first.”
“What’s that?” Lightning blinked in turn.
Rainbow ran a hand down her face, “We gotta hear another plea today. C’mon, let’s get back to my place. She’ll probably be ready by the time we get there. Thanks, Lightspeed.” She gave a wave behind them as the group filed out.
“Yeah, yeah. Thank me by not causing more fourth dimension bullshit or whatever you kids get up to these days.” Barrage rolled her eyes.
Sunset and Dash took a collective breath, heading back to the car with their third compatriot donning her own hood. They suspected that an apology from an ex-friend wouldn’t be as easy as hearing out someone like Lightning Dust. Either way, what was to follow probably wouldn't be very fun.
“I imagine you girls know why you’re here.”
The three high schoolers across from Twilight shuffled in place, each of them standing on Applejack’s front porch. Granny Smith had known what kind of talk was coming the moment she had seen Twilight’s expression that morning, kindly asking her to ‘tear into ‘em’ outside. Apple Bloom’s door had remained firmly locked that morning. The reasoning had taken no time at all to come forth.
AJ had settled into a nervous lean against the wall. Rarity had yet to meet the princess’ gaze, looking far more ragged than any of the others were used to.
Pinkie on the other hand was looking strangely hopeful, “You’re here to...help us find Sunset and Dashie so we can throw them a ‘We’re-super-duper-sorry-for-leaving-you-in-the-hall’ party?”
“Yes and no.” Twilight said with a scowl, “This isn’t something just throwing a party can fix, Pinkie. You three have just lost two friends. That’s not a small fix. No apology alone will mend this.”
“B-but we can get them back!” Pinkie tried, leaning forwards and her hopeful expression shifting to that of pleading, “Parties are what I do, they’re a gesture, more than just words!”
“Pinkie, you throw parties for literally everything else!” Twilight snapped.
“Because it's fun! It makes things better!” Pinkie raised her voice as well, a weak sob audibly held in afterwards, “I just want to make it better, Twilight...”
“I know, but doing something that you seem to do for literally everyone else isn’t the answer to this!” Twilight said, “You three need to apologise, and you need to do it in a way that means something to them. Something that you go out of your way to do, something that takes some time and effort, and possibly makes you all uncomfortable. Then they might believe you.”
“So what, you think we should just do something that’s weird or uncomfortable to us while they’re around?” Pinkie blinked, wiping a few tears away.
“Self-inflicted punishment seems a bit pointless, Twilight. Sounds like it would come across more awkward than anything else.” Rarity suggested, frowning as she finally met her eyes.
“Not a punishment.” Twilight shook her head, “But still something that you’d have to be truly motivated to do. Don’t maim yourselves.”
“But what does that mean, Twi?” AJ gestured with a sigh, “All ah’ve really ever had with apologies was mah word, an’ that’s kinda useless now. Ah get that we can’t jus’ follow a script, but we’re jus’ as lost now as we were before ya showed up.”
“I think this’ll be the hardest for you, Applejack.” Twilight paced in front of the three as if she were a drill sergeant, scowl permanently plastered onto her face, “Each of you will have to think about this, because I can’t give you the answer. Putting effort into your apologies will mean something different for all of you, and I don’t think throwing a party, baking something, or making a dress will do. No matter what you do: Listen. To. Your. Friends. You girls never seem to learn that! So when you go to apologise, shut your mouths and listen to them. They might swear at you, they might insult you, and they have every right to do it. So for Celestia’s sake, let them finish yelling before you say anything. Acknowledge that you’ve heard their piece. Then when they want to leave, let them go.”
Silence reigned for a few moments after, each of them seeming to absorb the short speech. “We’ll...give it a go, Twilight,” Applejack nodded slowly, “We screwed up, an’ we’ll do everything we can to make up for it.”
“Even if that means backing off entirely.” Rarity nodded, “If Sunset wants to end all ties, that’s her choice and I can accept that.” She wrung her hands tightly while speaking, tears coming fresh while doing so. At least there was no makeup to ruin this time around.
“And we’re sorry.” Pinkie nodded, seeming more somber now from Twilight’s verbal lashing, “You trusted us to stand with her, and we failed the three of you. We let you down as much as we screwed up with Sunset and Dashie.”
Twilight sighed, crossing her arms, “I’m still incredibly upset at you three, and I probably will be until all of this is over… But I forgive you.” When the three seemed to perk up more, Twilight added, “I also no longer trust you three, though, and I’m still steamed that Fluttershy isn’t here. Have any of you gotten in touch with her?”
“I haven’t seen her since the meeting at Sugarcube Corner the other day.” Rarity shook her head. “I tried texting her earlier, but she just told me that she was busy and to leave her be. Calls went straight to voicemail. Fairly certain she turned off her phone.”
“Probably holing herself up.” Twilight rolled her eyes with a huff, “I should’ve known.” She stopped in her incessant pacing, shaking her head, “Just like my girls… I should’ve seen this sort of thing coming.”
“Dare I ask?” Rarity winced. Their Equestrian counterparts weren’t mentioned often, if ever, to them, but they all got a good feeling they were about to get another earful.
“Oh, just the occasion where your counterparts from my world have left me for one reason or another when we were all younger…” Under her breath, she muttered, “Of course it was Dash that stayed…” She shook her head, hiding a small, distant smile.
The others were silent, unsure of what to make of that. The idea of their counterparts being so similar in such a negative way was disturbing, assuming this was almost preordained. The thought of destiny was thrown away quickly, marking it as a sad coincidence and bad decision making.
“I…” Rarity bit her lip, “I’m not quite sure what to say. We make mistakes. Some larger than others, but we try to make it right in the end, even when we can’t.”
“The last question is just ‘when’, ah guess.” AJ sighed, “When should we go find Sunset? Do we give her space or do we head after her?”
“Well, when do you think? You can’t come to me for all the answers, and Sunset won’t appreciate it if you do. Be your own people, decide when things are right for you.” Twilight said.
Applejack blushed at that, “Y-yeah, yer right. Jus’...yeah, gotcha, Twi.” She nodded, pulling her hat down over her face.
“Well I have one more question of my own.” Rarity frowned, “Since we’re on the topic of forgiveness and everything. I’m rather lost on the topic of someone who is seeking my forgiveness. I don’t want to be a hypocrite, but I-”
“-You can tell Sweetie Belle and Applebloom that it isn’t your forgiveness they should be seeking.” Twilight cut her off, going back to her angry pacing, “That they will only get your forgiveness once they get Sunset and Dash’s.”
“I just don’t feel like I can let this go. I’m being selfish, I know, but even in the event of Sunset miraculously forgiving us, I don’t think I can let go of this.” Rarity broke line now, beginning to pace herself.
“You’re really sending her back home then?” Pinkie blinked, watching her.
“All I can say is that compared to Sunset and Dash, they didn’t do anything to you three in the long-run.” Twilight said, “Remember that.”
Rarity held herself at that, thinking back to what Principal Celestia had told them before break, “You’re right. You’re right.” She nodded with a sigh, “If that will be all, I need to head back to the Boutique. Do you need a ride anywhere, Twilight?”
“Actually, yes. Bring me to wherever Dash lives. It’s time for my own set of apologies.” Twilight sighed, finally dropping her anger.
Rarity nodded, “Cloudsdale district it is.” The two set off towards Rarity’s minivan, parked up the dirt path. She was grateful that the drive wasn’t too far. The less awkward silence she had to deal with today, the better.
“Don’t worry about hangin’ around for a bit.” Dash shrugged at Dust as they got out of the car. “This probably won’t be too long. Just grab something from the fridge, we’ll let her say her piece and we’ll head down to the ‘training fields’ as it were.”
Sunset hummed in slight agreement, opening the front door to the shared house and stepping inside, glancing around for the pink-haired guest. “Fluttershy?”
Fluttershy poked her head around the corner from the living room, “Yes? O-Oh, is it time for the talk now?” She asked.
“You came all the way here for it, didn’t you?” She asked as Dash followed her inside. Dust did as well, taking a single glance at Fluttershy before walking past her and into the kitchen as advised. There was no glare or sign of ill will from her, just a simple acknowledgement.
“Lightning Dust?” Fluttershy asked, looking back at Dash. “But, yes, th-that’s why I’m here.”
“Don’t worry about her.” Dash waved, “Right now we’re talking about us. Right?” Sunset stayed silent, kicking the door shut behind her and watching Fluttershy expectantly.
“Right.” She nodded, “Well, honestly, I wasn’t really sure how else to do this.” She admitted with a sigh, “I couldn’t just run away from it, not that the girls are, but… I’m so sorry, Sunset. I should’ve spoken up when I realized the other girls and I were wrong.” She rubbed her arm, looking down at the ground, “I was nothing but your punching bag for three years, you know that. I wanted to think you had changed, but on the other hand it was so easy to blame you for this.” Tears burned the edges of her eyes, “It also made me realize that I had never fully forgiven you for those years. I’m so sorry I let that blind me.” Her breath hitched, and she swallowed hard. “After Dash sided with you, I… I realized we were wrong, but I let the other girls p-pressure me into st-staying quiet.” Her voice trailed into hiccuping sobs at this point, tears flowing freely, “Then my phone went missing, and y-you both went missing… I’m such an awful, awful friend!” And with that, she finally broke. Forcing herself to sit on the couch once again, she sobbed quietly into her lap.
Rainbow looked torn, knuckles white in clenched fists as she looked away, a small frown on her face. It was clear that she was trying rather hard to appear mad.
Sunset gave a sigh and sat down next to her, “...I was a bit of a raging ass to you for a long while, wasn’t I? Before I upgraded to demon that is.” She tried, hoping to at least pull the girl out of her sobs.
Fluttershy softened up a bit, pulling herself up and wiped her eyes with her sleeve, hugging Sunset to her. “...I’m so sorry.” Tears continued to come nonetheless.
“I know…” She nodded, hesitantly setting a hand on Fluttershy’s shoulder, “I know.”
“...” Dash stared at them from across the coffee table.
“Seriously?” Dust muttered from behind her, earning a jump, “She was your best friend, cap. You’re still mad?”
“It stings.” Dash muttered stubbornly.
“Yeah? So did getting the status of my family getting plastered all over the internet. So did getting crushed by Sunset in a fight three years ago. So did getting my nose broken a few nights ago. Ya know what? Revenge sucks. Holing up all that anger in your chest and sitting on it until it burns your ass.” She frowned, biting into the sandwich she had managed to make from her ransacking of the fridge and pantry, “You sit on that anger you got pointed towards a childhood friend of all people? You’re just gonna be another Gilda one day.”
Dash flinched back from that, not expecting a verbal slap of that quality.
“But what do I know? I’m just some rookie that flunked off the team and wound up as her lackie for a year.” She took a poignant bite of her BLT, chewing with a bemused expression.
“Hate you.” Dash scowled. Dust made a kissing noise back at her, prompting Dash to sit somewhere less infuriating, “...hey, Shy.”
“D-Dash…” Fluttershy sniffled, looking over at Rainbow with big, watery eyes.
Rainbow winced, “C-come on, Shy. Don’t do that with your eyes...how do you do that? It's like they inflate.” She tried to joke, totally not looking teary-eyed at all.
Sunset chuckled, “Should I translate, or do you speak Rainbow as well as I’ve learned to?”
Fluttershy turned to hug Dash now instead, “I’m sorry to you t-too, Dash!” She hiccuped, squeezing her best friend.
Dash resisted for a moment, “H-hey, come on. I don’t-” A condescending glance from the blonde chewing on her slab of meat and bread quickly shut her down again, “...it's okay, Flutters. At least, it will be okay. It's not your fault.” Rainbow stumbled through her own acceptance, trying not to sound too mushy in her mind.
“S-So, d-do you both forgive me?” Fluttershy asked, looking between the two through the drying tears.
“I’m...willing to try.” Dash nodded slowly, “You know me. It's hard to let go of a lot of shit, but...I don’t want to see what happens if I just stay angry.”
“Same with me. I spent the last several years in a perpetual state of anger towards someone.” Sunset blew out a breath, “I wouldn’t exactly say I’m handing out olive branches to everyone at CHS, but I think at the very least you’re okay.” A bit of a smile graced her face after that.
“Adorable.” Dust chuckled. Rainbow’s angry reply was cut off by a rapid knock on the front door, a muffled voice following it.
“Huh?” Dash scaled the back of the couch, opening the door to another strange sight in the week’s parade of oddness.
“H-help!” One Twilight Sparkle squeaked, dangling in the iron grip of an annoyed siren.
“Hey, I found some litter on your lawn. Know who it belongs to?” Aria deadpanned, eyeing the princess coldly.
“...oh. Wonderful.” Sunset groaned.
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Dash (x2): A whole load of shenanigans.
When do you think we can see Gilda getting busted
I want to see her reaction to getting busted after thinking she was in the clear by telling the others to stay quiet
Welp. That is gonna be an awkward conversation. Especially since Rarity is most likely there.
Looking forward to more
8620556
That's nothing. I can't wait to see her reaction when she learns that Lightning Dust; the person she not even one tiny bit suspects, is the one that ratted them out.
Keep up the great work, I await the next chapter with mild patience.
Nice touch at the end there.
The next chapter going be great and Twilight's reaction to Sunset being a siren will be epic.
Glad to see that Twilight has learned from her own past experience and is able to forgive her friends...oh, wait.
This is why I sour on most Anon-a-miss stories. Sunset's friends made a rash decision, but Twilight here, who should really know better, is treating it like some deep, personal moral failing on their part, to the point where she mentally unfriended them.
Per the Equestrian side of the mirror, forgiveness is almost a matter of course, if one is truly sorry. We've seen it time and time again in the case of things far worse than simply not trusting a friend who by their own admission isn't very trustworthy.
8620839
That's the thing, though, she did forgive them. Was she rightfully angry? Yes. Was some of that anger directed at them from her own failings? Probably.
And it wasn't just "a rash decision" on the part of the girls. It was the repeating of the same rash decision that's making Twilight so upset.
8620880
I dunno about you, but I'm not getting a "forgiveness" vibe from Twilight here; she certainly isn't treating them like her other friends, and it's not like they did much to her personally that they need forgiveness for. And her own friends have done far worse, time and time again, yet she's never lecturing them about how they need to stop making the same mistakes. That's the point I'm making, that the EQG characters are held to a higher standard and given far less leniency than the ponies, and Twilight's lecture here comes across rather self-serving and hypocritical.
8620957
She literally said, "I forgive you," which gives me a forgiveness vibe. What does it take for you to get one?
On top of that, she's helping them. She could just blow them off and tell them that they're on their own, instead she's going through the whole 'What makes a good apology spiel' and thus maximizing their chances of getting what they want: Sunset and Dash to be their friends again.
Words matter a great deal, which is why her saying that she forgives them is important, but without actions to back them up they're largely meaningless. By helping them Twilight is demonstrating forgiveness in deed as well as word, and that's generally how you let someone know that you really have forgiven them for real. Her actions say she forgives them as loudly as her words.
8620957
8620880
Yeah, it's almost like she's mad or something. What the heck, Sunny? Everyone knows that Twilight is always in total control of her emotions and never has flashes of anger towards those close to her.
8620991
Point made. At the same time, I don't remember Twilight giving her friends this spiel after Canterlot Wedding. After Lesson Zero, I don't remember Celestia lecturing Twilight about needing to regain the townspeople's trust. And the less said about Ponyville Confidential, the better. Plus after Discord and Tirek, I would think she'd have some perspective on not trusting a reformed villain. Twilight may be prone to fits of anger, but her attitude here is still pretty off-base.
8620984
By definition, forgiveness is letting go of one's negative feelings towards someone. And by her own admission, Twilight hasn't done that. She's paid lip service to forgiving them, but she says she won't stop being angry at them until "all this is over." And unless it was just an overdramatic throwaway, we can infer from her mental correction that she no longer considers them friends.
8620957
Think about it this way, though. These are younger, human versions of Twilight's friends in Equestria. Right now, she's seeing a pattern of a mistake that her pony friends used to make. So she's faced with the opportunity to nip this in the bud right here and now. Wouldn't you make that choice, if you could? It saves them all a lot of grief in the end.
And yes, the show doesn't do a superb job of calling ponies out for their mistakes. But I don't blame Twilight for that, I blame bad writing. We're trying to point out that this Twilight does point these sorts of things out to her friends - both versions of them.
As far as Twilight's speech being hypocritical? Yes, yes it is. Twilight is no unflawed angel. She's angry here, possibly also angry at herself, and is taking all of that out on her friends who refuse to listen to an experience they've already learned. Often when people preach about something passionately, they struggle with that flaw as well. Nothing annoys a person more than seeing a mirror of their own negative traits.
8621026
It sounds like we're of the same mind. This isn't strictly the Twilight from the show, and neither is she being particularly fair here.
Honestly, I wonder sometimes if I should just stop reading Anon-a-miss stories. The story itself is kinda bad, and the stories written about it tend to be just as bad. Hell and High Water is one of the few I actually find mostly satisfying.
For myself, I'm just hoping all of the blame doesn't just get heaped on Sunset's friends. Yes, they didn't trust her, but they're flawed people too, and Sunset is especially so. She played her own role in bringing this about, and I hope the story doesn't ignore that like a lot of others do. We'll probably learn more next chapter.
8621046
Then I don't understand your point. She's being a bit of a hypocrite, yes, but that's not entirely a bad thing. Friends can still be friends while also being upset at each other, and that's where Twilight is.
8621059
Mainly, I don't like when Twilight gets involved in Anon-a-Miss stories. Partly because I find it more genuine when the characters work things out on their own, but mostly because she's rarely written true to her character. She's written better here than in others, but her portrayal here still bugs me. It's more realistic, which fits the tone of the story, but it's not very Twilight.
8621072
And I respect that opinion. Uria and I believe that it makes sense that Twilight would jump in when the stakes are this high. We also believe that it makes sense that Twilight would be angry, but not to the level that other fics have taken it.
8621072
Princess Twilight is a Catch 22 character. If she's written in character, she's an unrealistic character. If she's realistic, she's now out of character.
FiM is something else...
8621015
Every time I see Canterlot Wedding brought up, I wonder when was the last time the person watched it. First, Lesson Zero. Twilight was wrong in the end (like Spike was telling her all episode, but apparently he doesn’t matter enough to count), and the issue was they just laughed Twilight off without really caring about what she saw as a problem. They realized they were wrong in the end and tried to take the bullet for Twilight in the end. Still, Twilight was in the wrong as well.
Canterlot Wedding was so much worse on Twilight’s end. First, she was acting jealous throughout the episode and no one else noticed her bad behavior (mind controlled Shining not included). Then, when they did all sit down, each of the girls tried to explain to Twilight why she was acting out of line (and each of the girls countered her arguments). Then Twilight storms off. Then, once Twilight sees the mind control, instead of talking to Celestia or talking to her friends again (she just gives up when she sees them as bridesmaids), she crashes the wedding rehearsal. Not only does she crash it, she corners the bride and yells at her until she runs away in tears, and even chases her out. Then, when proudly walking back into the room, Shining stops her and counters all of her arguments. Yes, Cadance was fake in the end. No one, not even Twilight, knew that. At the time, Twilight drove out the bride in tears out of jealousy and a refusal to listen, not to mention was happy about it. Of course they would all be disappointed at her and go comfort the bride. At no point did they end the friendship.
You also brought up Discord, who Twilight didn’t trust at first and it bit them all in the end. She also didn’t trust Sunset at first. Same with Trixie. Same with Thorax. She also didn’t instantly forgive the CMC in Ponyville Confidential or Twilight Time. Luna was an exception, but she was Celestia’s sister and away for a full season. Starlight was the other exception, but everyone instantly forgives her for absolutely everything. Tempest was technically in exception, but she pretty much took a bullet for Twilight and almost died first. Twilight isn’t normally instant forgiveness and no hard feelings.
8621200
I'm well aware of what happened in Canterlot Wedding. Twilight's friends dismissed her because they thought she was being spiteful, and they didn't trust her in the face of a false, but rational explanation. Not that they should have, she dug her own hole, but they still sided against their friend.
As for Sunset, her friends dismissed her because they thought she was being spiteful, and they didn't trust her in the face of a false, but rational explanation. Granted, it's not a perfect parallel; Sunset's friends have far less reason to trust her than Twilight's did, and even Sunset admitted that she wasn't worthy of it until after RR. Also, as you pointed out, Twilight's friends didn't cut her off like Sunset's did, but Twilight wasn't attacking them either. Sunset's friends thought she was targeting them, of course they would cut her off.
The point is, in both cases they sided against someone they had good reason to distrust, even though they were telling the truth, and bad things happened as a result. But only one is being expected to face consequences.
As for your final point yes, Twilight has a history of mistrusting those that have wronged her and keeping them at a distance, as well as experience with being betrayed by someone who had supposedly reformed. Which is why her berating these girls for doing exactly that stuck in my craw.
8621240
There’s a few key difference that completely shatter that comparison though. Twilight got left behind for her actions after all her arguments were countered and her behavior up to that point was bad. Even Twilight thought she was wrong in the end. In the comic, Sunset was acting normal (melancholy for being alone for the holidays, she even offered to help Applejack anyway she could to deal with the teasing), then her friends decided it was her and ambushed her. They yelled at her until she was in tears and refused to listen to anything she said. They were acting under suspicion and were torn apart again by the same method. They didn’t give Sunset a chance. Compare that to Twilight who actively chased out the bride in tears. Heck, only Shining Armor even yelled at her. Sunset had all the friends yelling at her and not giving her a chance to talk until days later she came practically begging a second time with the journal and knowing who the culprit was, then not getting an apology from anyone other than Sweetie Belle. Heck, they couldn’t even come up with a motive for Sunset and were considering never forgiving her. The two scenes share nothing in common besides a few surface details.
With the exception of three I mentioned, Twilight does start to trust others after they’ve proved they changed. She trusted Sunset by the end of RR, she trusted Discord after Tirek, and she even tolerated Trixie after No Second Prances. She’s willing to fully forgive after they’ve proved willing to change.
8621262
So, the key differences are basically that Twilight's arguments weren't convincing, while Sunset's friends didn't give her a chance to make any; and that Twilight did something publicly out-of-line in going after Cadance, while Sunset's friends accused her when they had "proof" of her wrongdoing.
The problem with that is that Sunset's friends did give her a chance to explain, albeit not much of one. They asked her if she ever lost her phone, and she admitted she had it the whole time. At that point, there wasn't much else to be said; she was the only one who could have posted those pictures, and by her own admission she had no way of proving her innocence. And of course they wouldn't forgive her; at that point, Anon-a-miss was still active, and she wasn't "coming clean." It's hard to forgive someone for something they're still doing and won't admit to.
You're right in that the scenes themselves aren't very similar. The effect, though, is the same: alone, thought the worst-of by their friends, and effectively estranged by people they care about, despite being right.
hahaha! that ending!
im just picturing the van down the block on fire. xD
Very nice. At least the shy one realized she was wrong. And lets face it, staying mad at her is WAAAAY too much.
I really like how you have things with Canterlot PD.
OH MY GOD. I LOVE METRIC. AS SOON AS I SAW THE CHAPTER TITLE
it is Metric: Black sheep, right ?
8625021
Ding ding ding!
8005561
Is every chapter title going to be a song pun?
8661734
Not a pun, but the direct lyric from its song.
8662547
So... when do we get more chapters?
8662592
I'm working on them, I assure you. Girlfriend has been in town and that's put most things on pause in the meantime.
8713904
Well that was indeed the case with MLP!Gilda and MLP!Dust. Meanwhile EqG!Dust and EqG!Gilda have yet to even be named dropped let alone appear. The EqG and main series characters are completely removed from each other experience and growth wise. Sans mirror personality traits, they have little in common.
This is fantastic! I read the whole thing in a day! Love love loved it! Cant wait for more
Rereading this chapter to get in the right frame of mind for the update.
sure you were
Why does no Anon-A-Miss story ever point out that Sunset spent years destroying this very ability in them?
It's like people don't want to draw this rather logical conclusion. Maybe they would have been more trusting if Sunset didn't undermine their trust for years.
But no, it's usually just them all being stupid.
8771996
There's a few Anon-a-miss stories arguing for your point, but they're a distinct minority. From what we've seen of them, the Rainbooms didn't exactly put much trust in their friends from the start, even before Sunset targeted them. All it took was a few fake texts to get them from being "best friends" to not even talking to each other; and before you argue that it might have been more than just a few texts, the point remains that during all that time before the first movie they didn't even try to talk to each other. Because if they did, even they would've figured out that something was fishy about all the miscommunications. Sunset might have been a bully and students might have been scared of her, but the students at the start of the first movie looked happier and more relaxed than in just about every other instance we've seen them since. Those weren't people who had their innate trust in other people destroyed, even the Rainbooms were perfectly happy to open up to a new student as long as it wasn't one of the few people they'd made their judgement on.
Another reason is that people actually like reformed Sunset, while the rest of her friends tend to be kind of jerks and/or pass the idiot ball between them.
That's not to say that my headcanon is absolute fact. You're entitled to your own opinion on the matter. But I see you trying to start this kind of argument on just about every Anon-a-miss, Canterlot Wedding and other Accusation Fics I read. You've apparently made your way through 75k words of this story, and you must have realized the author's stance on the topic way sooner than this. If you don't like the premise of accusation fics, why do you keep reading them?
8777118
I don't read most of them. There's a few I start reading, hoping things will go differently. So, to answer your question, misplaced hope in the few I try to give the time of day.
8779086
Funny thing, actually, in the comic they didn't turn on Sunset at first. They did once there was some serious proof. Applejack even blew off her sister for badmouthing Sunset.
But hey, if you enjoy those kinds of stories, great. There's always a market for Accusation fics, regardless of what I think of them.
8779146
Sorry that you feel this way, but Uria and I understand. We try to make our larger stories simply more than just accusation fics, but I see where you're coming from.
And to your credit, you're right. The first part of the comic does show the girls blowing off the CMC. But the big problem we're trying to point out is that, like their friendship before, it takes a flimsy reason for the girls to cut ties with Sunset. They clearly never learned that the first time.
Radar has picked up a helicopter going soi soi soi.
Revenge is like nuclear war in that there are no victors only vanquished.
Someone should make fan art of Rainbow Dash/Marred Spectrum's demon form and put it on the TV Tropes character page.
Oh, AJ is on Twilight's shit-list now.
10103365
Agreed!
That's going to be fun to explain