Aftermath

by gothchick7

Rating: teen
Tags: My Little Pony Comic, Fluttershy (EqG), Equestria Girls, Violence, Slice of Life, Sunset Shimmer
Length: 5508

We all suffer the consequences of our actions. No matter what you say, you can't take it back.

Warning: contains sensitive topics like bullying, slight gore, and PTSD.
Note: slight 'what if' scenario.

In the aftermath of the Anon-a-Miss scandal, Fluttershy suffers from it the most. It has not only affected her school work, but it has also affected how she behaves. Following an incident where she had punched another student, she is given a week's detention with the one person she didn't expect: the guidance counselor Discord. She had heard the rumors, but she's uncertain whether or not they were true. Still, she decides to give him a chance in order to make up for not giving Sunset Shimmer another chance when she had the opportunity.

Slight Sunset Shimmer x Fluttershy.

Published 2018-03-25 04:10:08 UTC
Last updated 2018-03-25 04:10:08 UTC

Aftermath

Fluttershy walked the ever-crowded hallways of Canterlot High, a look on her face that told everyone that she has seen some messed-up things. Anyone that saw her kept their distance, only sharing a small greeting with her before they went back to what they were doing. Fluttershy couldn’t blame them, no matter how she went about it. She was still suffering from what everyone now calls the aftermath of the Anon-a-Miss Scandal, which was created by the Crusaders just for a little attention. However, it brought nothing but pain for her, Sunset Shimmer, and their friends as well as schoolmates. By the time everything was cleared up, a lot had happened prior to the Crusaders’ confession.

“Fluttershy?” she heard a voice ask, snapping her out of her thoughts.

She looked to see Vice Principal Luna outside of her office.

“Oh, um, hi, Vice Principal,” Fluttershy said, her usual shy demeaner showing. “What is it?”

“Could you come in for just a moment?” Vice Principal Luna asked. “I need to speak with you.”

Fluttershy hesitantly nodded as she followed Vice Principal Luna into the office. Fluttershy managed to sit down as Vice Principal Luna sat across from her.

“Am-” she started before nervously clearing her throat. “Am I in trouble?”

“No,” the vice principal said. “However, I do have cause of concern for your well-being.”

She then handed Fluttershy something.

“Your Biology teacher had just graded your class’s tests this morning,” Vice Principal Luna said. “However, he’s noticed something strange about your test.”

Fluttershy looked to see an ‘F’ scrawled in red ink on her test.

“Um…” she said.

“Now, this is unusual that you failed a Biology test because you’ve passed your last tests in that particular class with flying colors. I want you to be honest with me, is something wrong?”

Fluttershy shook her head.

“No trouble with the family?” Vice Principal Luna asked.

“No,” Fluttershy answered with honesty. “I just wasn’t thinking straight, that’s all.”

Luna didn’t seem convinced.

“Well,” she said as Fluttershy handed her test paper back, “I still need to speak with your parents about this. After all, it may have something to do with…”

She hesitated when she looked at Fluttershy.

“What happened,” she finally said.

“It’s okay,” Fluttershy said. “I understand.”

“Okay,” Vice Principal Luna said with a nod. “You may carry on, then.”

Fluttershy only nodded as she got up and left. Luna only watched her leave before going back to what she was doing.

~~~

The rest of the day went by fairly quick for some of the students, but for Fluttershy, it felt like eternity. She had just reached her locker and went to open it. She managed to open it and was about to switch out some of her things when she suddenly heard it.

It had been someone trying to open their stuck locker door by hitting it, but to Fluttershy, it was the same sound that had marked that one moment of terror and uncertainty. She start hyperventillating as the memories of that day went through her head. In her eyes, blood was on the lockers surrounding her own. She then felt hands on her shoulders and was shook a bit.

“Fluttershy, calm down!” she heard the all-too familiar voice of Rainbow Dash shout, causing her to calm down almost instantly.

Fluttershy blinked as she stared at Rainbow, her eyes starting to line with tears.

“I- It’s happened again, hasn’t it?” she asked quietly.

Rainbow Dash only nodded as she let go of Fluttershy’s shoulders. Fluttershy said nothing else as she finished what she was doing and closed her locker.

“Thank you,” she only said to the chromatic girl.

“No problem,” Rainbow said with a smile. “Besides, we’re friends. Friends help each other out.”

Fluttershy smiled before frowning after she realized something.

“Then, why did we turn our backs on Sunset Shimmer?” she asked before she started walking, Rainbow Dash following after her.

“There could be a lot of reasons,” Rainbow Dash said. “We weren’t thinking straight, we let the past cloud our judgement… Any reason could be a valid one.”

Fluttershy sighed.

“Maybe… Maybe if we hadn’t left her like that, everything that happened wouldn’t have happened.”

Rainbow Dash scratched the back of her head in thought as they walked.

“So, what did Vice Principal Luna want to see you about, Fluttershy?”

“She and my Biology teacher were concerned about my latest test grade.”

“I thought you guys weren’t getting those back until later this week.”

“It was just a concern,” Fluttershy only said.

Rainbow Dash decided to leave it at that as the two continued walking. Fluttershy always made it a point to not mention her problems to anyone unless she had to. They both walked in silence until Rainbow Dash spoke up.

“So, Sugarcube Corner tomorrow?”

“Sure,” Fluttershy answered with a smile.

“All right!” Rainbow Dash said with a fistpump. “See ya later!”

“You too,” Fluttershy said as the two parted ways.

~~~

Fluttershy walked into her house after a busy afternoon of working in the animal shelter. She always enjoyed the animals’ company as they always understand her. Fluttershy made a face as she went to do her homework. She could not even bring herself to confide in the animals about what had happened. A sudden thud interrupted her thoughts and Fluttershy looked to see the same Journal that Sunset Shimmer kept on hand, the very same one she used to maintain contact with the Twilight from Equestria.

Fluttershy picked it up and looked at it before sighing. She still remembered the day Sunset Shimmer came to Sugarcube Corner to try and tell them something, but they still refused to listen. The defeated look on Sunset’s face still bothered her. However, what happened at Sugarcube Corner was the last straw before what happened the next day, the day that still affected everyone. She remembered how, once it was all over, she promised Sunset to write to Twilight in case she had to.

Fluttershy looked at the journal once more before putting it back into her schoolbag. She then resumed her homework as she tried to push the memories of that fateful day from the front of her mind.

~~~

Fluttershy let out a shrill scream as she jolted out of her bed, the sounds of something blaring in the air. She panted erratically as she looked for the source, soon finding the alarm clock she always set whenever she had to leave early. The clock was showing that it was 6 am. Breathing a sigh of relief, she turned off the alarm and got ready for the day ahead. Once she was ready to go, she left her house and went to school in her motorized scooter.

As she rode the same route she always took, she thought about the day before. True to her word, Vice Principal Luna had called Fluttershy’s parents and the three had discussed about what the plan of action was. Fluttershy had reassured them that she was going to talk to someone at the school once she got the chance. The only thing wrong with that plan is that she had no idea who she is supposed to talk to.

She soon reached Canterlot High and parked her transportation into the right spot. As she walked up the steps and entered, she walked towards her locker to switch out some of her things. As soon as she finished, she heard it. She looked to see a trio of jocks picking on Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, and Sweetie Belle. No doubt it was because of their actions, but to Fluttershy, it made them no different from what the Crusaders, her, and her friends did to Sunset Shimmer.

Making sure her schoolbag was on as well as her locker was shut, she calmly walked up to the group and what followed soon after was the familiar sound of someone getting punched in the face. The leader of the group was sprawled on the floor, hand to his cheek, as he glared at Fluttershy, who only had a calm expression on her face as she shook her hand. She then looked at him and his cronies with the look that everyone always called The Stare.

“Do you have any idea what you’re doing right now?!” she asked. “I mean, sure, the Crusaders spilled out everyone’s secrets and blamed Sunset Shimmer for it, but that gives you no excuse whatsoever! If anything, you three are just as guilty as they are because I know you three gave them secrets to spill as well! Not to mention that you treated Sunset Shimmer the same way we all did: by turning our backs on her and not giving her a chance to prove that she didn’t do it! Now get out of my sight before I make you regret bullying even more!”

The three did not waste any time, and so, they ran off though not before they quickly apologized to the Crusaders. Fluttershy watched them go off until they were all out of both eyeshot and earshot, when she let out a sigh as she returned to her usual shy self. Both her and the Crusaders stood there in silence for what seemed like eons until a voice piped up.

“Thanks,” Apple Bloom said quietly, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle nodding their thanks.

“It was no problem, really,” Fluttershy only said before she started walking towards her first class.

The three watched her go before they hurried to their class as well.

~~~

The first two classes went by in a flash and without a hitch. Fluttershy was on her way to her next class with Rarity when the intercoms came on.

“Fluttershy, please report to my office,” Principal Celestia’s voice was heard before the intercoms went off.

“Oh, my,” Fluttershy said to herself. “Someone must’ve seen the punch.”

“Punch?!” Rarity asked in surprise.

“I’ll tell you later,” Fluttershy only said before she quickly made her way to the principal’s office.

When she finally arrived, she saw that both Principal Celestia and Vice Principal Luna were there. Fluttershy gulped and sat down in front of the principal’s desk.

“Do you know why I called you here?” Principal Celestia asked.

Fluttershy nodded.

“All right,” Celestia said. “Don’t take this the wrong way, though. Both Vice Principal Luna and I appreciate you standing up for others. But you can’t just punch someone like that, even if you had good intentions.”

Fluttershy hung her head at that as the Principal and Vice Principal looked at each other. Celestia gave her sister a nod to signal a go ahead and Luna spoke up.

“Since you only dealt one punch, you get one week of after-school detention. During that time, you’ll be spending it with Guidance Counselor Discord.”

“Guidance Counselor Discord?” Fluttershy asked in surprise.

It was no secret that Canterlot High has hired a guidance counselor fairly recently. However, no one ever goes to visit the counselor in question on account of rumors about his eccentricities and how he caused nothing but trouble in the past. Fluttershy was not sure about believing the rumors, but she was too scared to even see for herself if they were true or not.

“You start your detention tomorrow,” Vice Principal Luna said.

“Okay,” Fluttershy said with a nod.

“You may go back to your classes now,” Principal Celestia said as Fluttershy got up.

“Thank you,” the student said as she walked out of the office.

Fluttershy let out a sigh of relief as she went to the class she was going to.

~~~

The girls met up with each other at their usual table in the cafeteria for their lunch and Fluttershy had just told them what had happened.

“Whoa, whoa, back up,” Rainbow Dash said. “You mean to say that you punched a guy as well as called him out on bullying and got a week of detention as a result?!”

“Yes,” Fluttershy said as she looked at her lunch.

“Well, at least Vice Principal Luna gave ya leniency on account of ya standin’ up fer Apple Bloom and her friends,” Applejack said.

“Yes,” Rarity said. “But a week of detention with the guidance counselor? Really?”

“It doesn’t have anything to do with the Anon-a-Miss mess, does it?” Pinkie asked, a little worried.

“I… I’m not sure,” Fluttershy admitted.

“Well,” Applejack started in thought, “let’s just hope that both Principal Celestia and Vice Principal Luna know what they’re doin’.”

“Yeah,” Pinkie said in agreement.

Fluttershy let out a sigh as the group continued to eat their lunch and talk. Pinkie was probably right in thinking it had something to do with the Anon-a-Miss Scandal. She usually was right about these things. After they finished their lunch, the group went through the rest of their classes as well as afterschool activities.

~~~

The next day, once classes were over, the five friends stood in front of an office door they had seen several times in the past, but had never got the chance to go beyond it. During their time at the Sugarcube Corner the day before, Rarity had looked at the map of the school to see where the guidance counselor’s office was and the group agreed to stop by the office so that Fluttershy wouldn’t be in front of the office alone on her first day of detention.

“You ready?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“I think so,” Fluttershy said. “You guys can just go ahead.”

“Nah, we’ll stay here ‘til ya enter that office,” Applejack said.

“Okay,” Fluttershy said with a nod.

The others waited as Fluttershy took a deep breath and walked up to the door. She hesitated before looking back at the others.

“It’ll be okay,” Rarity said.

“Yeah!” Pinkie agreed.

Fluttershy smiled as she looked back at the door. She then knocked on the door softly.

“Come in,” they heard a male voice say from behind the door.

Fluttershy gulped as she and the others had one more group hug before she looked at the door. She carefully opened the door and walked in, closing it as she did. She looked around the office she had just entered. Everything was arranged in such a chaotic way that, to an average person, it would be considered cluttered. Fluttershy walked up to what she figured to be the guidance counselor’s desk in spite of the many papers and other knickknacks on top of it, seeing that someone was indeed sitting behind it from the fact that they are reading a newspaper while their feet are propped onto the desk. From what she saw, the figure was wearing a pair of mismatched boots, what looked like red pants, and a pair of mismatched gloves.

“Hello. Are you the guidance counselor?” she asked.

“Depends,” she heard the same male voice respond. “Are you Fluttershy?”

“Yes.”

“Then I am the guidance counselor,” the man said before pointing at the chair in front of the desk. “Have a seat and we’ll get started.”

“Okay,” Fluttershy said as she went to sit down.

A loud farting noise was soon heard the moment she sat down. Fluttershy let out a squeak as that happened and became embarrassed.

“Um, excuse me,” she said before she heard the man start laughing.

She raised an eyebrow before she got up and looked at the chair to see that someone had placed a whoopee cushion there. She gently took the offending object out and sat back down.

“Okay, that was actually a little funny,” she admitted with a smile.

“Glad you got a sense of humor then,” the man said as he put away the newspaper, allowing Fluttershy a better look at the guidance counselor.

Apart from the mismatched shoes and gloves as well as red pants, the man also wore a dark brown turtleneck as well as having grey skin with black hair, white bushy eyebrows as well as a white beard, and red eyes behind a pair of yellow-tinted glasses along with a pair of mismatched studs in his ears.

“Guidance Counselor Discord at your service. So, I was told that you got yourself a detention with me.”

“I did. I punched a student because he was picking on Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, and Sweetie Belle.”

“Funny, didn’t think you’d have a violent bone in your body.”

“I also chewed him out for even doing it.”

“Oh, that’ll do it.”

Fluttershy nodded as Discord put his hands together in thought.

“Okay,” he said after a while. “Here’s how things’ll go: you can do whatever you want to during your detention, homework, read a book, et cetra. However, I’ll have to ask you to do something every once in a while. That sound fair?”

Fluttershy thought for a bit before nodding.

“Okay,” she said.

“Great!” Discord said with a smile. “I don’t have anything major to do right now, so you just do whatever you want to for the moment.”

Fluttershy only nodded as she took out her homework and started working on it. As she worked, she looked around the office. On the bookshelves were books placed in various positions as well as along with various knickknacks similar to the ones on the desk. She was not sure if that was Discord’s idea for decorating an office or another thing entirely. She soon stopped working and went to put up her homework when Discord suddenly spoke up.

“What’s wrong?”

Fluttershy looked at him in confusion.

“How’d you know that…?” she hesitated in finishing her question.

“Vice Principal Luna told me,” Discord explained as he looked up from fiddling with a tiny figurine. “She mentioned that your Biology teacher noticed that you failed your latest test, even though you always passed those tests.”

“I just wasn’t thinking straight, that’s all…” Fluttershy said.

Discord raised an eyebrow, but nodded anyway.

“All right, then. Well, if you wanted to talk about anything, you can always talk to me.”

“Okay.”

Discord nodded before resuming what he was doing. Fluttershy let out a quiet sigh as she looked through some of her things for something else to do. Her hand happened to brush against her cell phone, and she frowned. She still remembered how the MyStable account Anon-a-Miss nearly destroyed everyone’s friendships as well as reputations, especially Sunset Shimmer’s. She drew her hand back and looked at the guidance counselor.

“Um, actually…” she said, gaining Discord’s attention. “You were right. You, Principal Celestia, and Vice Principal Luna. Something is wrong with me.”

Discord said nothing as he set the figurine aside and looked at Fluttershy.

“Go ahead,” was all he said.

Fluttershy only nodded and took a deep breath.

“I’m pretty you already knew, but some time ago, there was a MyStable account called Anon-a-Miss and it caused such trouble.”

“Oh, yes,” Discord said as he took out a notepad and wrote on it a bit. “I also know that a student was blamed for creating that account.”

“Yes,” Fluttershy answered. “It was Sunset Shimmer. Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, and I all thought that she had gone back to her old ways, even though she insisted that she had nothing to do with it. What happened at Sugarcube Corner was even worse. She tried to tell us something, but we still didn’t listen to her. We drove her away. Maybe… Maybe if we knew that what happened next would happen, we shouldn’t have done it.”

She stopped herself as tears threatened to spill from her blue eyes. Discord instinctively took out a hankerchief from his pocket and handed it to her.

“Thanks,” Fluttershy said as she wiped her eyes.

“No problem,” Discord said. “You don’t have to continue if you don’t want to.”

“No, it’s fine,” Fluttershy said. “Someone might as well know.”

Discord only nodded as Fluttershy handed him the hankerchief back. She then took a deep breath and looked at him.

“Okay, I’m going to continue now.”

“All right,” Discord said with a nod.

“Okay,” Fluttershy said, nodding back as she took another deep breath. “We were in the cafeteria for lunch...”

*Flashback*

Fluttershy, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, and Pinkie Pie sat at the table, about to eat their lunch and talk. As they did, her mind started to wander towards other topics, the main topic being Sunset Shimmer. Sunset had tried to tell them what she had told Twilight, but they did not want to hear it. Fluttershy frowned as she speared her salad with her fork and ate. She should have said something, anything really, to prevent Sunset from storming out in defeat, but she did not say anything. Now that she thought of it, she had not seen Sunset that morning. ‘Maybe she’s at home’ she thought before Pinkie suddenly made a face while in the middle of telling a joke. The others had noticed and Rainbow Dash was the first to speak.

“Hey, Pinkie, are you-?” she asked before they heard one of the double doors open and close, interrupting the chatter.

The five looked to see Sunset Shimmer standing in front of the doors, her face devoid of any emotion. Silence still hung in the air. Fluttershy had noticed that something was wrong as Sunset just stood there, not saying anything. Then, in one fluid motion, the former class bully had taken out something out of her schoolbag and a sudden BANG rang out, followed by a scream.

The five suddenly went under the table as students started running amok. Fluttershy looked around around to see who was hit and soon saw Lyra on the ground, holding her arm as Bon Bon rushed to her friend’s aid. Another BANG was heard as Fluttershy saw that Octavia had fallen to the ground with a cry of pain, blood coming out of her leg. She saw Vinyl run over to the cellist and went to stop the bleeding.

Fluttershy looked towards Sunset Shimmer, horror in her eyes. In the orange girl’s hand was a gun, the one thing she did not think Sunset would have on hand. Then, she saw that tears were pricking the corners of Sunset’s eyes. She didn’t think, she just crawled out from under the table and got up.

“Fluttershy, no!” Rarity’s protest fell on deaf ears as Fluttershy started running towards Sunset Shimmer.

A third BANG was heard, followed by a yelp from Snips. Fluttershy willed herself to not look at where Snips was hit as she reached Sunset Shimmer, suddenly wrapping her arms around her when she did. Sunset Shimmer froze at that. Fluttershy felt her heart beat rapidly. For a moment, they stood there, with Fluttershy’s arms around the one person no one expected her to hug.

Then, Fluttershy heard a clatter as Sunset returned the hug, soft sobs coming from her. Out of the corner of her eye, Fluttershy saw the gun on the ground. She then started patting Sunset on the back.

“I’m sorry,” the orange girl sobbed out. “I’m so sorry.”

“It’s okay,” Fluttershy only said. “I’m the one that should be sorry. I should’ve listened or at least said something when I had the chance.”

Sunset only continued to sob as the two continued to hug and the chaos started to die down as students stopped running and stared. Fluttershy felt herself blush as Sunset’s sobbing soon became sniffles.

“Fluttershy?”

“Yes?”

“Can you…? Can you please write to Twilight if you ever get the chance?”

“I promise,” Fluttershy said with a small smile.

After a while, the two broke off the hug as Sunset took out the journal that she always used to communicate with Twilight and handed it to Fluttershy, who then took it.

*Flashback end*

“The police and paramedics soon came after that,” Fluttershy said. “Sunset was arrested and Lyra, Octavia, and Snips were taken to the hospital. It wasn’t until after everything that happened that we realized that Sunset Shimmer couldn’t have been Anon-a-Miss. Soon, we had figured out that Apple Bloom along with Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle were responsible for creating Anon-a-Miss. They confessed to everything and… Well, I think we both know the rest.”

“Oh, yes,” Discord said as he wrote down the last of the notes he had been taking the whole time Fluttershy was talking. “I was there when both Principal Celestia and Vice Principal Luna gave the Crusaders their six month detention. Luna even told them that they should be lucky that no one got killed, because otherwise she would’ve put them in separate classes. Now, I want to ask you something.”

Fluttershy let out a sigh as she steadied herself. He was probably going to ask if there really is such a thing as a journal that serves as a communication device as well as able to reach someone in another world.

“What do you think you learned from all of this?” Discord finally asked, much to Fluttershy’s surprise.

“Well…” Fluttershy said as she firmlay clasped her hands together. “I honestly don’t know. What’s done is done. Sunset Shimmer probably won’t want anything to do with us again after what happened.”

“I see,” Discord said as he set the pen down and looked at her. “I want you to understand something, Fluttershy. No one ever thinks about the consequences of their actions until they do happen. Think of the Anon-a-Miss incident as like dominoes. Once you knock one down, the ones following all fall after it. But someone has to start that chain reaction. Because you and your friends turned your backs on Sunset Shimmer, she was blamed by the other students and then that shooting happened. All because three young girls were jealous. Do you understand where I’m going with this?”

“Yes,” Fluttershy said after a while. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome,” Discord said before looking at his watch. “It’s been an hour, how about we call it a day?”

“Okay, then. Just one thing, though: is how I’m feeling about that whole mess normal?”

Discord thought for a bit before he answered.

“It is if someone goes through something like that,” he explained. “It only happens if it is incredibly traumatizing to anyone. With enough support, however, you can live with it. Does that make sense?”

“I think so. Thank you again.”

“You’re welcome.”

“Well, I should go, then. Same time tomorrow?”

“That’s right. Oh, and give your friends my regards.”

“Of course,” Fluttershy said as the two exchanged good-byes and Fluttershy left the office, going to find her friends.

~~~

In the remaining days of her afterschool detention, Fluttershy had been going to Guidance Counselor Discord’s office. And each time, while she spent her detention with either homework or helping Discord with something, Fluttershy kept thinking about what the guidance counselor had meant when he asked her what she had learned from the whole Anon-a-Miss scandal. It wasn’t until the last day of her afterschool detention, that she had finally figured it out. She was helping Discord with cleaning out the fishbowl belonging to his pet clownfish, Quincy.

“Um, Guidance Counselor?” she asked as she put Quincy into the now clean and filled bowl.

“Yeah?” Discord asked.

“I… I think I know what I learned from everything that happened.”

With that, she took out the same journal that she had held onto.

“I saw the last thing Twilight had written to Sunset and I now know what she was trying to tell me and the others back in the Sugarcube Corner. She was going to tell us that we’re more than just her friends, we’re her family. Anyway, I learned that if you think someone else did something and it all seems circumstantial, you should always give them the benefit of the doubt until they can be proven either innocent or guilty.”

“And what made you realize that?” Discord asked.

“This past week with you,” Fluttershy admitted. “Before I got the detention with you, I only heard rumors about you. Rumors about you being eccentric and how you used to cause trouble in the past. I wasn’t sure if they were true or not, so I never got the courage to meet you in person. However, I realized that while you are indeed eccentric, you actually mean well and care about everyone’s well-being. So, I guess I should thank you for making me realize that.”

Discord thought long and hard before smiling and nodding.

“That’s right,” he said. “In hindsight, you could’ve given Sunset Shimmer the benefit of the doubt. But like you said on that first day, what’s done is done and you can’t change it. You can only learn from the mistakes you’ve made. You understand?”

Fluttershy nodded, smiling as well.

“Just out of curiosity, though,” Discord started, “where did that shot hit Snips?”

Fluttershy hesitated.

“Um, from what we heard, Sunset shot him in his butt,” she finally said.

The two were silent for a moment, but then Discord started laughing with Fluttershy joining in soon after. Fluttershy felt much better to know that there is someone in life that understood her problem and was able to help her understand the way things can be done. Once detention was finally over, Fluttershy said good-bye to the guidance counselor and left the office.

~~~

Fluttershy and the others stood in front of the courthouse, anxiously waiting. Today was the day they would hear about Sunset Shimmer’s sentence. Fluttershy was writing into the journal when Pinkie noticed it.

“You’re actually doing it?” she asked, gaining the other three’s attention.

“Yes,” Fluttershy answered. “Twilight deserves to at least know about why Sunset hadn’t written to her in so long as well as what the five of us learned from all of this.”

“Sunset would’ve been proud of ya,” Applejack said as she put a hand on Fluttershy’s shoulder.

The pale yellow girl smiled as she finished up the letter she was writing into the journal and closed it. Soon, the doors had opened as Sunset Shimmer walked out and looked at them in surprise. The five girls looked at each other before looking at Sunset.

“Sunset,” Rarity was the first to speak, “we just wanted to say that we’re sorry for abandoning you like that when those pictures were posted.”

“We should’ve believed you when you said that you were innocent,” Applejack spoke next. “And I should’ve realized that Apple Bloom had something to do with it the minute she even suggested that it might’ve been you when I found out that someone had posted the story behind that family nickname.”

“Fluttershy told us about the last thing Twilight wrote to you before you came to us in Sugarcube Corner,” Rainbow Dash said. “We shouldn’t have drove you to shooting at us.”

“If you don’t want to forgive us for everything, that’s fine,” Pinkie said sadly. “We all deserved it for being terrible friends to you.”

Fluttershy said nothing, but instead gave Sunset her journal back.

“I wrote to Twilight while we were waiting,” she explained. “I told her everything that happened after you went to the Sugarcube Corner. I’m sorry it took so long to write to her.”

Sunset Shimmer was silent for a moment or two before she let out a sigh.

“Well,” she finally began, “first of all, I appeciate you guys coming here. Second of all, I do want to forgive you guys. It’s just that… It’s just that after everything, I don’t think forgiveness is going to be that simple. But that doesn’t mean that I won’t try.”

The five smiled before they hugged Sunset, who hugged them back. After a while, they broke away.

“So, what’s the bad news?” Pinkie asked.

“I have to spend the holiday break under house arrest,” Sunset Shimmer said. “It’s okay, though. I’ll live.”

The six laughed as they walked away from the courthouse. As they walked, Fluttershy took Sunset’s hand into her own. Sunset noticed and looked at Fluttershy with a smile. The other four noticed and laughed a bit, much to Fluttershy’s embarrassment. She suddenly felt Sunset kiss her on the cheek and smiled. She supposed that Guidance Counselor Discord was right: with enough support from each other, the six of them can get through this and forgive each other for their actions.

Author's Note

I normally don't write about touchy things, but this is one of the few exceptions I've made. School shootings are one of the things that I feel are preventable if only we see the signs at the earliest opportunity. So, in a sense, this is an in memory fic to all of the victims of school shootings as well as their friends and families as well as a message of sympathy to the survivors of said school shootings.

One of the major driving forces behind me finishing this was the more recent school shooting in a Florida high school last month and part of this fic was actually inspired by an event in which a teacher stopped a school shooter by hugging them.

So, with that said, I hope you really enjoyed it, even if it had touchy subjects in it.