It was morning and the Humane Five were at the Sugarcube Café. They had received a message from Twilight Sparkle to all meet at that place. All five teenagers were sitting at a table with glum and nervous expressions on their faces for they knew Twilight would still be a little upset with them after hearing the terrible details of how Sunset Shimmer suffered during the Anon-a-Miss fiasco. They turned their attention toward the door when they heard someone enter the café, it turned out to be Twilight with Spike by her side. The purple girl took a seat at the table where her ‘friends’ sat. She didn’t make eye contact with any of them. Her face was devoid of warmth and happiness. Instead, it bore seriousness and disappointment. The Five knew this would not be a pleasant meeting.

“So…” Rarity was the first to speak. “How are you doing, darling?”

“Been better,” Twilight replied in a glum tone of voice while still not making eye contact.

“Would you like to order something?” Fluttershy politely asked.

“No thanks,” Twilight responded emotionlessly. Afterwards there was a moment of uneasy silence between all of them until Twilight spoke again. “When I asked you all to look out for Sunset Shimmer, I knew it wouldn’t be easy for either of you. However, I hoped that eventually you’d all let bygones be bygones and become true friends with her. But the way you interpreted my request was to watch over her and make sure she behaved and stayed in line as if you were her parole officers. Am I assuming that correctly?”

None of the Five answered the question. Instead they gave Twilight looks filled with shame, nervousness, and embarrassment which gave her the answer she needed, and it didn’t please her one bit.

“Have any of you figured out why you couldn’t use your magic the last time you spoke with her?” Twilight asked. She hoped they’d figured that out on their own by now, but the curious expressions on their faces said otherwise. “Because Sunset truly isn’t your friend anymore. In fact, I doubt she ever was.”

“Are you saying she was pretending to be our friend the whole time?” Rainbow asked suspiciously.

“No Rainbow Dash,” an annoyed Twilight replied. “I’m saying you were the ones pretending to be her friend the whole time.”

While they understood why Twilight was cross with them, the Five couldn’t help feel very offended by that accusation.

“What are you talking about?!” a defensive Rainbow Dash objected. “We never did something like that. Don’t you remember the light show we put on during the Battle of the Bands?”

“We all know there was no way we could’ve pulled that off if we weren’t all friends with each other,” Pinkie added.

“Mm-hmm,” Fluttershy concluded.

“Correction,” Twilight counter argued. “You five were my friends during that time and so was Sunset Shimmer. If I wasn’t there the Dazzlings would’ve won without any problem at all. I was the middleman that made that magical moment possible. None of you ever gave her an offer to join the band. And when she did try to help out, you all mercilessly snapped at her!” This made the Five cringe with shame and embarrassment as they remembered that moment.

“Okay I admit, I might’ve overreacted a little that time,” an uneasy Rainbow replied.

“‘A little’ doesn’t quite cover it, Rainbow Dash,” Twilight scolded. “Look I wanted you all to at least try to be friends with Sunset. But if you didn’t want to you could’ve just been honest about it instead of just getting both our hopes up and then dashing them like that. This is something I expected better from you, Applejack.”

“Now hold on a darn minute,” Applejack spoke defensively. “Maybe ah’ wasn’t as nice ta’ Sunset as ah’ should’ve been, but ah’ ain’t no liar! You of all people should know me better than that.”

“For a while, I thought I did,” Twilight bitterly replied with a big scowl on her face.

“Okay, I admit,” the country girl said admitting some defeat. “The first time we started hangin’ out with Sunset, ah’ was a little skeptical. It had just been a few weeks after the Fall Formal, and ah’ wasn’t entirely sure Sunset had changed for the better. Some of mah’ friendly interactions with her weren’t entirely… ‘genuine’.”

“So you lied?!” a shocked Pinkie asked.

“No! Not exactly. Ah’ just hid mah’ true feelins’ of distrust under a mask of trust. But all that changed. As we hung out with Sunset more often, the feelins’ ah’ originally faked started ta’ become real. Pretty soon ah’ actually started havin’ fun in Sunset’s company. Ah’ felt like ah’ had finally made friends with the girl ah’ once considered mah’ worst enemy.” AJ smiled warmly after she was done talking, but it slowly disappeared as she saw Twilight’s scowl remained unchanged.

“Or maybe you got so good at it that you started fooling yourself,” the Princess said accusingly. Nothing AJ said had any effect on her. “You did lie, Applejack. Not to me. Not to Sunset. But to yourself. And that’s the worst person anyone can lie to because when you lie to yourself, it makes it easier to lie to others.”

“Now hold on Twilight darling,” Rarity spoke coming to AJ’s defense. “You’re taking this a little too far. This was all a big horrible misunderstanding.”

“All the evidence we had was pointed at her,” Rainbow added. “How was she able to prove to you she was innocent?”

“Sunset is the only person in this world who doesn’t have anything to prove!” Twilight said raising her voice a little which startled all five girls. Then she stood up so she was looking down at all five still seated girls and making herself more a center of attention. “Look I know Sunset Shimmer wasn’t the nicest person you ever met, I know that just as much as everyone at CHS. But at least I’m not letting that prevent me from starting a new relationship with her. By clinging to what happened in the past, you’re ignoring what’s happening in the present. Besides, I’ve met a lot of bad people from my world and Sunset isn’t even the worst. I admit when I returned here to help you against the Dazzlings I too was a little skeptical about her. But after having a little talk with her the night we had that sleepover, I realized she wasn’t the person she was when we first met, at all. I could plainly see that all she wanted was to help out and be accepted. After she proved to be the key to finally beating the sirens, I hoped that would be the turning point in her life that would finally make all of that possible. But apparently I was wrong. Apparently her help at the Battle of the Bands wasn’t enough for any of you! And now, I’m responsible for her suffering.”

“What are you talking about, darling?” a confused Rarity asked.

“You were the only one who didn’t believe she was guilty?” Fluttershy said.

“But I left her all alone with you,” the Princess of Friendship shamefully replied. “Trusting you five with Sunset Shimmer has been the greatest mistake of my life.” She said with both sadness and disappointment in her eyes. Then she left her seat and walked through the café doors. She needed a moment to blow off some steam before resuming her discussion with her ‘friends’ again.

Back at the table, Twilight’s words hit the Humane Five harder than a speeding locomotive. To hear that she considers them mistakes made them feel like the biggest bunch of failures in the entire universe. How could they possibly be able to redeem themselves at this point?

“It seems like everything you say to her now just makes her angrier,” a calm but disappointed Spike said. “The pony versions of you were able to learn friendship lessons faster than this. Why can’t you?”

“But we have learned,” Pinkie insisted.

“We just want Twilight to understand why we did what we did,” Rainbow added.

“The fact that you’re trying so hard to justify your actions shows otherwise,” Spike disagreed. “Did any of you ever apologize to Sunset Shimmer when you found out who the real Anon-a-Miss was?” No one answered. “Did any of you look her in the eye and say you were sorry?”

“Not in that way, per se,” Rarity uncomfortably admitted.

“But we did start hanging out with her again,” Pinkie said managing a smile. “We invited her over to slumber parties, played games, watched movies, ate delicious goodies, and had a wonderful holiday season together.”

“We thought apologizin’ through our actions was the best way to make it up ta her,” Applejack concluded.

“No you didn’t,” the purple puppy disagreed surprising the five teenage humans. He had a very serious expression on his face. “Back in our world, I used to wet the bed when I was younger. I was so embarrassed and ashamed that sometimes I tried to hide the sheets. How often I got caught or not isn’t the point. The point is you’re all doing the same thing I did. Instead of dealing with your mistake, you’ve been trying to make Sunset and everyone else forget about it and move on as if it never happened. I couldn’t believe you would all do something so stupid and so cruel to Sunset Shimmer, but I never thought you would all try to resolve this issue in such a cowardly way. This goes especially to you, Rainbow Dash.” The little dog’s words dug deeper than a rusty pickaxe. “And as for Dash’s question about ‘how Twilight knew Sunset was innocent’. The answer is ‘Twilight is Sunset’s friend,’ plain and simple. Do real friends believe their friends are innocent until proven guilty?”

“Oooooh… crap!” Pinkie exclaimed in realization.

Suddenly, Twilight reentered the café accompanied by the Crusaders.

“Your sisters would like to have a few words with you,” Twilight informed the Five. She still had a stern look on her face.

“Twilight told us about what has been happenin’ here,” Apple Bloom said.

“Don’t worry girls, you don’t have to take the blame for this one,” Rarity assured them.

“We didn’t come here to take any blame,” Sweetie Belle said.

“We came here to give you some advice,” Scootaloo added. “Something we did after the Anon-a-Miss fiasco that you five have failed to do.”

“What’s that?” Fluttershy asked curiously.

“Grow up!” Apple Bloom answered bluntly. The Five were stunned by this. “You may claim to have learned your lesson, but the fact that y’all tryin’ so hard to make excuses and justify them says otherwise.”

“You’re so focused on the horrible things Sunset did to you in the past,” Sweetie Belle added.

“That you’re completely ignoring the horrible things you’re doing to her in the present,” Scootaloo concluded.

“Surely, you must’ve known Sunset was innocent all along. We didn’t pull off Anon-a-Miss that well,” Apple Bloom said.

“So why did you all turn on her?” Scootaloo asked.

“Did you have any idea how much you made her cry?” Sweetie Belle asked.

“I… I…” Fluttershy anxiously stuttered trying to come up with a response. The others looked like they were doing the same thing. After a moment, a look of utter shock and realization formed on the pink-haired eco-girl’s face which soon formed on the faces of the other girls as well. They did know they made Sunset cry when they cast her out of their circle of friends. Surely someone who would cry that hard must’ve been innocent of the crime they accused her of. So WHY did they do it?! WHY did they continue to let her suffer?! It was at this moment that the Five finally realized the exactly what they had done and had needlessly pushed away an innocent and very good friend. Possibly forever! Any excuses or justifications they might’ve still had for their actions and thoughts suddenly vanished out of existence. “We did!” she said in a soft horrified tone. “And we still did nothing! No wonder she left us for Zak!” The extremely remorseful girl burst into hysterical sobbing.

“Stupid, vain, ungrateful hypocrite!” Rarity cursed herself as her tears washed away her mascara.

“Ah’ can’t believe we did this!” Applejack said horrified and disgusted with herself.

“We had ONE job!” Rainbow yelled tearfully. “Be Sunset Shimmer’s fucking friends!”

“We were supposed to show her how great friendship was!” an extremely upset Pinkie said. “But instead, we showed her just how ugly and terrible humans can truly be! We didn’t just take a page from the Old Sunset Shimmer, we wrote a sequel to her goddamn book!”

“Girls,” Twilight tried to calm them down and get their attention.

“Chapter One: stab your own innocent and best friend in the back for no reason!”

“GIRLS!” Twilight yelled finally getting their attention. “Yes! You hurt her! More than she could ever possibly hurt you, but this isn’t the time to feel sorry for yourselves. I organized this meeting with you all so that you could finally have this realization. It’s time you all started owning up to the part you played in this whole fiasco and stop letting the CMC shoulder all the blame. If you remember it was practically your fault they started Anon-a-Miss in the first place because you neglected them. Don’t get me wrong, I do not believe that justifies what they did in the slightest. But I’m sick and tired of everyone trying to avoid answering for what they did as if the pain they caused was not their fault.” Twilight took a moment to calm down, and resumed her speech. “Now, I have a plan to help out Sunset Shimmer. But it’s going to need everyone’s assistance, and I mean everyone. I’m going to go out and find Sunset and try to convince her to come back to the school with me.”

“What should we do?” Fluttershy asked.

“I want all of you to share your realization with the rest of the school. They all need to understand the damage they’ve inflicted just as much as you.”

“You can count on us,” AJ agreed. But there was an obvious hint of sadness in her voice. “This time.”

“Do you need any of us to go with you?” Rarity asked.

“No,” Twilight answered. “I have to do this part myself. Sunset might not listen to me, but I know she won’t listen to you.”

“What about Zak?” a concerned Pinkie asked. “He’s not going to let her go.”

“Just leave him to me,” Twilight replied with a serious expression. “You all just focus on what you need to do and be ready for when we arrive. When we do, I want you all to be prepared to pour your hearts out and apologize like you’ve never apologized before.”

“Do you think she’ll forgive us?” Fluttershy asked.

“No,” Twilight answered honestly. This made the already miserable Five look even more miserable. “She might not even want to be friends with you. I know I wouldn’t, and Sunset Shimmer is a far more forgiving person than I am. In that case, I will take her back to Equestria with me where I’ll make sure she’ll receive the happiness she’s rightfully earned. But in the slim chance she does decide to give you a second chance, I want you all to promise me one thing.”

“And what’s that, darling?” Rarity asked.

“I want you to promise me that you will be Sunset Shimmer’s friends for real. And if I ever hear that you’ve hurt her like this again, not only will I take Sunset back to Equestria, but I will also take the journal, the magic, and permanently seal the portal and cut any and all ties to this world forever. Do I make myself clear?”

The Five and the Crusaders all stood in silence for a moment thinking about the severity of the Princess of Friendship’s ultimatum.

“Crystal,” Rarity reluctantly agreed. The fashionista had summoned as much courage as she could to answer that question. The others nodded in agreement.

“Thank you,” Twilight expressed her gratitude. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I have a friend to find.” With that, she and Spike got up, walked out of the café, and were gone.

The Five and the Crusaders stayed behind in the café for a while still thinking about the promise they just made. The moment was so serious that even Pinkie Pie couldn’t think of anything to say to lighten the mood. This was truly their very last chance. From now on, they would have to be wiser and more careful about how they treated their friends because if they messed this up, they could say good-bye to the magic, Sunset, and Twilight forever.

“Well, ah’ guess we better head back to the school and clean up our mess,” Applejack broke the silence.

With that, the Humane Five and the CMC all left the café and headed back to CHS to have a word with the rest of the student body. Forlorn expressions donning their faces. They looked as if hope was hanging by a very very thin thread now.

Author's Note

The next chapter for this story is finally here! I apologize for the long wait. I've been dealing with a lot of writer's block and am currently working at an internship and haven't had a lot of time to write or post anything new. But now I've found the time and am back!