Twilight Sparkle stood by the doorway of her next class, waiting for Sunset Shimmer to show up like she always did. However, to her surprise, she didn’t show up at all. That struck Twilight as odd since Sunset was usually never late to class. Her mind began to race with all the possible reasons for Sunset’s sudden change in behavior as she looked down either side of the hallway. Still, there was no sign of the flame-haired girl, which only made Twilight all the more suspicious of her. She waited for about 2-3 minutes before giving up and going to her seat. Although she would have waited longer, she didn’t want a tardy on her otherwise perfect attendance record. And while Twilight would never admit it now, she was beginning to grow frustrated with Sunset’s constant pushing her away whenever she asked about the Fall Formal. So, to have some space from her was a relief for her.

“Why do you have to let me in on some of your past, then push me away whenever I ask about the Fall Formal or Demon Shimmer? What happened that was so bad, Sunset?” thought Twilight Sparkle, still eyeing the doorway and hoping that Sunset would show up.

A few moments later, the bell rang, followed by the teacher walking into the classroom, books in her arm. Twilight’s gaze slowly shifted downwards to her desk before the sound of a dry erase marker opening caught her attention. As she sat at her desk with her arms on either side of her notebook, she couldn’t keep her mind focused on what the teacher was writing. It kept wandering back to Sunset Shimmer and why she hadn’t shown up for class despite all her attempts to push the thoughts away. Giving in to the thoughts, Twilight allowed herself to think about Sunset. She recalled all the days she and the redhead had attended school together. It occurred to her that in that time she had known her and attended CHS, Sunset had never missed a single day of school. Not unless she was so sick that it was safer to stay home.

“Could this be because of what happened between us earlier when Sunset caught me looking at a yearbook picture of hers? Or is it because she is hiding whatever changes happened to her on Thursday? Did someone see something, and that caused her to ditch class?” thought Twilight Sparkle, tuning out what the teacher was saying. “Oh, Sunset. Why can’t you just be honest with me? I can’t stand all this secrecy any longer, not when I know that you are deliberately keeping something big from me. I don’t want to keep second-guessing myself and wondering if you are ever going to be honest with me. And I am not so sure I want to keep waiting for you to come to me…”

“Miss Sparkle? Care to tell the whole class what is so important that my teaching gets in the way?” asked the teacher, snapping Twilight Sparkle from her train of thought.

“Wha-huh?” asked Twilight as she looked at the teacher. “Oh, uh, sorry, Ms. Coral.”

Ms. Coral sighed, the stress of dealing with teenagers every day was slowly etching away at what little remained of her sanity. As she turned and looked at Twilight, her breath hitched in her throat. The sight of her student having two large, feathery wings was a shock to see every time she turned around. While Principal Celestia and Vice Principal Luna had sent out letters out to all of the staff explaining what happened with Twilight and that they were to continue business as usual, Ms. Coral was still struggling to get used to it. Having a student with wings, a tail, fangs, and an ability to blast things didn’t make it easy to focus on teaching a class. However, she was starting to get past Twilight’s appearance and not let it distract her from her job. Regaining her composure, Ms. Coral took a deep breath and continued with the lesson.

“Please stay after class, Miss Sparkle. I’d like to discuss some matters with you,” said Ms. Coral, returning her attention to the whiteboard behind her.

Twilight Sparkle sank downward in her chair, her tail instinctively curling into her lap as did that. She looked down and reached her hand out towards it, allowing her fingers to brush against the coarse hair. It felt similar to what a horse’s tail would, which Twilight suspected, given how she and the girls gained pony-like attributes whenever they ponied up. However, unlike Sunset’s own tail, it wasn’t tangled. Thanks to Trixie exposing her secret to the entire school, that meant she didn’t have to hide it in her jeans. And not having it tucked away from sight also meant that it didn’t tangle nearly as much. That made brushing it in the morning a relatively easy task for Twilight. While she stared at her tail and ran her fingers through the length of it, her mind began to wander back to Sunset Shimmer and the fact that she was clearly concealing something from her.

“Why hide your wings from me, Sunset? Are you that afraid of what I will do when you let me see them? Or are you just afraid of letting me see what your demonic form looks like?” Twilight Sparkle’s hand gripped her tail tightly as anger rose within her. “What have I done that makes her so scared to tell me the truth? Can’t she just let me in and allow me to know the side of her past she thinks is so bad?”

Questions swarmed inside Twilight Sparkle’s mind so quickly that it was beginning to make her nauseous. Her stomach tightened into knots as she recalled all the times she and Sunset had hung out before all the drama with the animatronics happened. Every moment almost seemed like it was fake now that Twilight knew about the redhead hiding her past from her. The memories, now tainted by the revelation of Sunset’s lies, only reminded her that she had let herself be gullible enough not to notice all the odd things Sunset seemed to do around her. Now that Twilight was aware that she hadn’t gotten told the full story, it was painfully clear that she had ignored all the signs from the beginning. From the moment Twilight had transferred to CHS, the girls and Sunset had acted a bit weird whenever she asked them how Sunset had become their friend. And come to think of it, she never did get an answer to that question. Still, for the past year, she had shrugged it off as nothing and assumed she was just letting her nervousness get to her. Twilight gripped her pencil tightly as she tried to calm the tsunami of questions and focus on the assignment.

A half-hour later, Ms. Coral finished explaining the lesson and what the assignment was for the day. She grabbed the stack of papers that was sitting on her desk and began to pass them out to the students. When she had made her way to the row where Twilight was seated, she stopped for a moment. Ms. Coral wasn’t so sure of how to approach her or avoid her wings, which stuck out into the walkway. However, knowing that she had to maintain a professional demeanor, she pushed on doing her job until she reached Twilight’s chair. She noticed there was a look of worry and hurt written in her student’s expression. Naturally, that worried her as she didn’t like to see any of her students in distress. She set down Twilight’s assignment, trying to avoid touching her wings. Unfortunately, despite her best efforts, a few feathers managed to brush against her arm and made her shudder, something that Twilight was quick to notice.

“Oh, great! Now I have scared the teacher because of my wings. Well, this day couldn’t get any worse,” thought Twilight Sparkle as she pulled her wings closer to her body.

Mr. Coral, still embarrassed that she had let her professionalism slip, walked silently back over to her desk. She set what remained of the empty assignment sheets down and sat in her chair. Her pulse was racing, and there were goosebumps on her arm where she had brushed against Twilight’s wing. In an attempt to get rid of them, Ms. Coral rubbed her arm and tried to forget the incident. She took a deep breath and tried to keep her hand from shaking as she turned to the students.

“Alright, students, you have until the end of cl-class to finish the assignment,” said Ms. Coral, the shakiness making its way to her voice. “Otherwise, it will be considered late.”

“Hey, look at that! Twilight is scaring the teacher. Maybe she can scare the teacher into giving us no homework for the week,” whispered one of the students that were sitting behind Twilight Sparkle.

That comment made Twilight Sparkle sink further into her chair as her embarrassment and shame grew. Just when she thought things were beginning to improve for her at CHS, this had to happen. She hadn’t meant for her wings to scare Ms. Coral. Besides, it wasn’t like it was her fault that her appearance had gotten altered a week ago. Twilight didn’t choose to look like the she-demon that nearly destroyed this world to learn more about magic on purpose. That choice was taken from her when her geode went haywire and caused her to revert to her demonic self. She looked up at the clock on the wall, noticing that the time was 2:15 pm. One more hour and she would be free to go home and forget all the comments, hushed whispers, and snide looks she had gotten all day. Of course, that would happen only after she had talked with Ms. Coral.

“Come on, Twilight! You can endure one more day of being in school. After that, you can go home and relax,” thought Twilight Sparkle as her eyes fell back to the almost finished assignment in front of her. “Or you can find Sunset and demand that she finally come clean about whatever she is hiding.”

“That’s my girl! Way to be assertive,” said Twilight’s inner conscience.

“Thank you. I think it’s about time that I take the initiative and tell Sunset that my patience is wearing thin for her being secretive.” Twilight filled a few more of the questions on the paper. “I can’t wait much longer before I reach my breaking point.”

“Exactly. You should tell that redhead that her time is nearly up. And that if she cares for you, she’ll be honest and tell you the truth. She’ll drop the lies and reveal what is under her hoodie as well.” Twilight Sparkle’s inner voice now had a strong, but helpful tone to it. “Besides, it’s not like whatever she is hiding can be any worse than what you have got going on, right?”

“You’re absolutely right! I mean, we have both been through similar transformations, so she can’t be hiding anything that is all that different from me,” thought Twilight Sparkle as she jotted down the last answer on the assignment.

“Sunset already knows that you’ll accept her no matter what happened in her past or what she looks like. So, just show her that you mean it,” said Twilight’s conscience as she turned in the finished assignment.

“That is precisely what I plan on doing,” thought Twilight, walking back to her seat.

After enduring the hushed comments for the last hour of school, Twilight Sparkle heard the bell ringing and signaling the end of class. She stayed seated in her chair as she watched her classmates grab their stuff and dart for the door. Once the last of her classmates left the room, she turned to Ms. Coral. Twilight could see that she was hesitant to approach and that only added to her guilt. She felt bad enough that her wing had touched her without seeing the fear the touch had caused. Pulling her wings as close to her body as she could, Twilight tried to appear as approachable as she could. As she waited for Ms. Coral to come towards her, she pulled out her phone and sent a quick text to Applejack.

Twi: AJ, I have to stay after class for a little bit. Also, have you seen Sunset lately? She didn’t show up for class.

AJ: Okay, I will let the girls know. And no, I haven’t seen her since I confronted her about what she was hiding from us.

Twi: Oh? What happened between you two?

AJ: Let’s just say I got a bit carried away with my anger.

Twi: Did she tell you what she was hiding?

AJ: Uh, she didn’t exactly explain it to me. Just that it had something to do with her demonic transformation.

Twi: Okay. Well, I have to go now. I will meet up with you and the girls as soon as I can.

AJ: Alrighty then! Bye!

Twilight Sparkle gulped and put away her phone as she watched Ms. Coral approach her desk. When Twilight’s gaze shifted downward, she caught sight of Ms. Coral’s hands trembling as she walked toward her. That made her wings droop down over her shoulders as she looked at her desk. She didn’t want to see her teacher acting scared of her, but there was nothing she could do. She had chosen to leave her hoodie in her locker, and that left her with no way to hide the feathery nuisances attached to her. Twilight wasn’t sure how this was going to go, but she hoped that she could join the search for Sunset soon. And she hoped to do that before she lost her confidence to confront her about all the secrets and lies.

“Miss Sp-Sparkle, I am glad that you have stayed after class. Would you mind expl-explaining why you were distracted today?” asked Ms. Coral, leaning against the desk next to Twilight Sparkle.

“I was distracted because… I was thinking about Sunset, ma’am,” replied Twilight Sparkle, staring at her desk so Ms. Coral wouldn’t see the hurt in her eyes.

“Sunset Shimmer? The student who was absent from my class today?” asked Ms. Coral.

“Uh, yeah. That’s her,” said Twilight.

“And why exactly were you concerned about her, Miss Sparkle? Do you have something to do with her not being here right now?” Ms. Coral asked.

“N-No! It’s just lately Sunset, and I have had some trust… issues because of something she’s been keeping from me,” replied Twilight, looking up at her teacher.

“Ah. So, you’re worried that something may have happened with Sunset and that you’re the cause of it? Or is it that you’re worried she may be avoiding you and being honest?” Ms. Coral was beginning to relax the more she talked with Twilight Sparkle, though she figured it was best that she didn’t focus on her wings or her fangs.

“I am worried she is avoiding being honest with me.” Twilight Sparkle’s voice was quiet, almost too quiet. Ms. Coral could barely make out what she had said.

“Well, I am sure that whatever is going on with Miss Shimmer, she is alright. It could be that she is nervous about being honest with you, and she may have needed a break. Not that I condone her skipping class for that reason. But, trust me, I’ve had a few days like that in my lifetime. Especially today…” Ms. Coral got up from the desk and walked over to Twilight Sparkle. She hesitated in resting her hand on her shoulder, but quickly dispelled her fears and forced herself to go through with it.

Twilight Sparkle saw Ms. Coral’s slight uneasiness around her before she felt her hand on her shoulder. It felt nice to have someone to talk to since her mother wasn’t exactly able to speak with her. And she didn’t want to push her luck given how she currently resembled her she-demon self at the moment. Not to mention that her mother spent a lot more time trying to convince her father that she was still his little girl. As Twilight met Ms. Coral’s light lavender eyes, she saw a brief glint of curiosity in her eyes. That made her wonder if her teacher was now more curious about her than she was scared of her appearance. She watched as Ms. Coral removed her hand from her shoulder and walked back over to her desk, her hands still visibly shaking somewhat.

“Ms. Coral?” Twilight Sparkle stood up from her seat and walked over to her teacher’s desk. “Are you, um, curious… about my...” Twilight’s wings stretched outward as she spoke, “wings?”

All Ms. Coral could do was nod slightly in response to Twilight Sparkle’s question. Her throat was dry, and it seemed her vocal cords didn’t want to cooperate with her. As she sat there in her chair, she found her gaze drifting towards the two feathered wings which sprouted from her shoulder blades. Her curiosity was starting to get the better of her as she tried to rein it in. However, as someone who loved to learn new things, the chance to know more was all too tempting to turn down. Finding some courage to speak, Ms. Coral met Twilight’s gaze and forced herself to say something.

“Yes, Twilight. I am curious about your, erm, wings. Still, that doesn’t mean I have a right to question you about your private matters, such as this. This is not my concern, even if I am your teacher,” replied Ms. Coral, trying to keep the professionalism in her classroom.

“But Ms. Coral, I can see that you’re curious about them. And honestly, I would like to know that my favorite teacher isn’t afraid of me,” Twilight Sparkle said, hoping to convince Ms. Coral that her curiosity was alright and that she didn’t mind it.

Upon hearing that, Ms. Coral shifted her gaze away from Twilight Sparkle and looked down at her desk. It was a bit of a surprise that a student had chosen her as their favorite teacher. She did her best not to meddle in that sort of gossip between students. As a teacher, she knew that it was not wise to get caught up in conversations such as that one. Besides, it was annoying enough that it was also the topic of discussions in the teachers’ lounge as well. Ms. Coral felt her cheeks flush as she realized that one of her students truly did appreciate her.

“D-do you truly mean that, Twilight? Or are you just saying that because you feel bad that you were distracted in my class today?” asked Ms. Coral, wanting to see if Twilight meant what she said since she had usually gotten labeled as the strict teacher.

“Yes, Ms. Coral, I do mean that,” replied Twilight Sparkle as she felt her tail flick out from behind her and come into Ms. Coral’s view.

“Does your tail do that often? Or do you control it yourself?” asked Ms. Coral, taking a chance and asking something that she would never usually ask a student.

“It does it on its own. Like whenever I am deep in my thoughts or feeling any strong emotions, especially nervousness…” replied Twilight as her tail flicked out once more.

Ms. Coral fidgeted in her chair as she realized that she had made Twilight nervous by being afraid of her. “Oh, I apologized for making you feel nervous or uncomfortable around me. But, I must admit that I am feeling a bit nervous… around you right now.”

“It’s alright, Ms. Coral, I understand that you’re a bit wary of my new look. I was too, at first, even ran away from my friends because of it. Though I have to say I never imagined you being nervous, especially given how confident you always seem to be at school events,” said Twilight, looking down at the floor as she recalled the night her geode had forced her back into her demonic form.

“You know, Miss Sparkle, I am a human being just like you and your friends are.” Ms. Coral relaxed in her chair and looked at Twilight directly. “Just because I am your teacher doesn’t mean that I can’t feel things like nervousness or anxiety from time to time.”

Twilight Sparkle stepped away from Ms. Coral’s desk and leaned against the desk behind her. She bit her lip as she sat in the awkward silence, which now filled the empty classroom, being careful to avoid having the sharp edge of her fang cut her lip. It was a strange sensation to know that she now had two extraordinarily sharp canines in place of her usual ones. That made Twilight feel like she was almost a vampire, although her tail and large feathered wings made it clear that she wasn’t one. Plus, the lack of bloodlust proved that as well. Not that she minded not having bloodlust. It made her almost happy to be Midnight Sparkle instead of a blood-thirsty killer. Twilight was grateful that she wasn’t one and that if she were one, she wouldn’t sparkle like a certain family of vampires from an all too well-known book series. She knew that would’ve made her the subject of so many sparkling jokes that it would’ve been ridiculous.

As she relaxed her wings, letting them rest against her back, Twilight Sparkle said, “I understand, Ms. Coral. I was just saying that it’s strange to see my teacher acting like someone I’d meet outside of a classroom. It’s not something you’d normally see.”

Ms. Coral chuckled at what Twilight said. “That’s very true. Normally teachers aren’t supposed to interact with their students on a personal level. Then again, your situation presents us with a unique opportunity.”

“So, are you saying that you will be willing to ask me questions about my situation to quell your fears?” asked Twilight Sparkle, trying to contain her excitement at the fact that her favorite teacher was hopefully going to get past her fear of her.

“Yes, Twilight. I will make an exception for this one time. Besides, I am curious about those wings of yours,” replied Ms. Coral as she got out of her seat and leaned against the front of her desk. “Can you actually achieve flight with those?”

*** *** *** ***

In front of the school, Applejack was leaning against the Wondercolt statue. She watched as a flurry of students busted through the front doors leading out towards the courtyard where she was standing. The cowgirl had made a point to be quick to exit the halls before they had gotten overtaken for that reason. It looked similar to a herd of cattle when something has spooked them into a stampede. That made Applejack thankful that she escaped it before she got caught inside of it. When the crowds dissipated a bit, she looked around the last of the students, hoping to find her friends. She spotted Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy walking out the front doors behind Wallflower Blush. As she looked at the plant lover, Applejack noticed the fearful expression she had on. That made her wonder if she had seen what Sunset was hiding from them.

“Hey, Applejack,” said Fluttershy. “I got your text about Sunset.”

“So did I,” added Rainbow Dash. “What’s up with Sunset? How come she didn’t show up?”

“Good. Now, all we gotta do is wait for the rest girls to join us,” said Applejack, pushing herself off the statue. “Then, we can figure out what the hell has bothered Sunset so much that she would ditch class and disappear on her friends.”

Just as Applejack finished her sentence, Rarity and Pinkie Pie showed up. Pinkie Pie was skipping alongside the fashionista in her usual chipper demeanor. It seemed that the disappearance of their redheaded friend hadn’t doused her spirits. That was one thing the girls were often thankful for, even if right now it didn’t seem appropriate. Her cheerfulness had gotten them through many dark times and reminded them to have fun and enjoy life. Pinkie Pie stopped skipping as she stood next to Fluttershy. Rarity, meanwhile, left Pinkie Pie’s side and walked over to where Applejack was. She gave her a quick peck on the cheek, inhaling the scent of hay and earth she had come to associate with her. It was still a bit of an adjustment to call the cowgirl her girlfriend when they had remained friends for so long. Taking her hand in her own smaller one, Rarity stood next to her.

“Pinkie Pie and I rushed over here as soon as we could. I wonder why Sunset has skipped class today. It’s very unusual for her to do something like this. She has never missed a single class, not even when she was, excuse my language, the school’s alpha bitch,” said Rarity.

The girls all stared at the fashionista, their eyes widened with surprise. It was very rare to see her say anything of that sort. And it was even more so that she would say that about her friends. Rarity was usually above that, saying that it was low-handed and beneath her. However, given what Sunset Shimmer had done to her during the Spring Formal, it was understandable that she felt that way about her. The school had called Flirty Rarity because of the video Sunset had made about her. It took her forever to live the nickname down, but she eventually managed to escape it. And since Sunset was their friend now, Rarity had forgiven her for releasing her very private photos of her to the whole school and put it behind her.

Rarity, seeing the strange looks she was getting from the girls, said, “What? It’s not like she wasn’t one back then, right? I mean, she hacked into our emails and phones and nearly destroyed our friendship just because she wanted to.”

“Um, I guess not. But, Sunset is still our friend, who has done her best to prove that she has changed,” said Fluttershy, not wanting to upset Rarity.

“Hmm, that is true. I guess “alpha bitch” was a bit… harsh,” said Rarity. “I may have been a bit judgmental in my choice of words.”

“Harsh words aside, you’re right about Sunset, Rare. It’s unusual for her to ditch class without saying a word to us,” said Applejack.

“Where’s Twilight? Isn’t she gonna join us?” asked Rainbow Dash, finally noticing the absence of Twilight Sparkle. “You would think the way she drools over Sunset, she’d care enough to get her ass over here and help us look for her.”

Applejack glared at the athlete, annoyed at her lack of empathy for Sunset or Twilight. “Twilight had to stay at her last class. The teacher needed somethin’ from her. But she said that she’d join as soon as she can.”

“Oh…” was all Rainbow Dash could manage to say as she rubbed the back of her neck, trying to hide her embarrassment.

“Now that’s been sorted out, how about we get back to the matter at hand?” asked Rarity, not wanting her girlfriend to get into a fight with the athlete.

“That’s a good idea, Rare.” Applejack turned her attention to Fluttershy. “Fluttershy, you and Sunset have hung out by yourselves in some of the more secluded areas of the school. Do you know where she might’ve gone to get some alone time?”

“Uh, I may know of some places Sunset would go to. However, there’s no guarantee that she’ll be there,” replied Fluttershy, hiding behind her hair.

“Well, it’s better than running around like a rubber chicken whose head got coated in a thick layer of cotton candy,” said Pinkie Pie, pulling a random cookie from her hair.

“Pinkie’s right, Fluttershy. We can use every lead we’ve got,” said Applejack, placing a comforting hand on Fluttershy’s shoulder. “Please, tell us what you know.”

“Okay, I will do what I can to help,” Fluttershy said, pushing her hair aside.

“Awesome!” shouted Rainbow Dash, pumping a fist into the air. “So, where's the first place we should look for Sunset, Shy?”

Fluttershy looked down, trying to recall all the places she had seen Sunset Shimmer hanging out the most when she wasn’t with Twilight or the girls. The one place she often caught her was the library. It seemed to be her first choice to go when she needed some peace and quiet to think. That had gotten made especially apparent when the stress of trying to figure out how magic worked in their world got to her during the Friendship Games. Fluttershy had noticed that Sunset spent hours at a time in the library after school. Twilight’s spectrometer taking and containing their magic also didn’t help matters. If anything, it made Sunset stay at the library even more than she was before, causing Fluttershy to worry about her health and sanity. Deciding that was the most logical place to start with, she met the girls’ anxious expressions.

“We can check the library. That seemed to be Sunset's first choice whenever she needed someplace quiet, especially during the Friendship Games,” replied Fluttershy. “I mean if you all want to check it out.”

“Well, it’s a good place to start,” said Applejack. “So, let’s go check there first.”

*** *** *** ***

The girls arrived at the library in 20 minutes, finding it mostly empty. The air smelled of musty books and lilacs, which hit them instantly as they walked in. Aside from a few students who were studying for makeup work or tests, there were very few people sitting in the library. There was also a chilliness in the room as the air conditioning had gotten turned on for the summer season. And there was an eerie silence that had settled over it. The silence was enough to make Fluttershy feel uncomfortable standing there in the doorway. Seemingly oblivious to Fluttershy’s growing uneasiness, Rainbow Dash walked over to a cart that was sitting near the entrance. As she browsed through it, she came across the latest Daring Do book in the series.

“Sweet! A.K. Yearling has released a new Daring Do book!” shouted Rainbow Dash, forgetting that she was supposed to be quiet inside of a library.

Looking up from the book, Rainbow Dash saw that many of the students there were now glaring at her. She didn’t understand why they were all angry at her until she remembered where she was. Sheepishly, Rainbow Dash put the Daring Do book back on the cart. However, just as she was about to join the girls again, she heard Matilda come up behind her. She turned around and saw the librarian’s assistant was shushing her. The angry expression she wore drilled into Rainbow Dash and made her squirm as she looked at her.

“S-sorry, Matilda,” whispered Rainbow Dash, looking away from Matilda and the annoyed looks she was getting from the surrounding students.

As Matilda walked away from the girls, Rainbow Dash shivered. Although she was older than Granny Smith, Matilda had a creepiness to her. Maybe it was because her one blind eye had lost its color and now was milky grey. Or perhaps it was the way she seemed to be everywhere and nowhere all at once. For an assistant in a quiet library, Matilda had a way of sneaking up on unsuspecting students. It always unnerved Rainbow Dash whenever she had to come to the library for any reason. Whatever it was that gave Matilda her air of creepiness, the athlete was glad that she didn’t visit the library often. Besides, Rainbow Dash had a reputation as the coolest team captain of CHS to uphold. And being considered an egghead was not going to help her maintain that.

Applejack walked over to the main desk, squeezing Rarity’s hand as she joined her. She had to admit it was pleasant to hold her girlfriend’s hand in public. After forcing herself to hide her feelings for so long, expressing them openly felt good to the cowgirl. There were a few students who looked up from their textbooks and stared at the two. Applejack saw Rarity turn to look at them, wondering if she was okay. She knew it was a risk to have their relationship out in the open. However, if anyone had anything bad to say about them dating, Applejack was more than willing to put them in their place. When she saw Rarity look back at her and smile, her worry dissolved, and she turned her attention to Miss Cheerilee.

“Oh, hello, girls!” said Miss Cheerilee as she walked out from behind the main desk.

“Hey, Miss Cheerilee. We were wonderin’ if you had seen Sunset today by any chance,” said Applejack. “We’re lookin’ for her.”

“Hmm, I don’t think I have seen her in here today. But she may have run by here earlier, during the fifth period,” replied Miss Cheerilee as she reshelved a few books. “I hope that helps you, girls.”

“It does. Thank you, Miss Cheerilee,” said Rarity, giving their librarian an appreciative smile.

Slipping away unnoticed by her friends, Fluttershy made her way over to the animal section of the library. That section was her favorite part of the library, especially since she worked at the animal shelter. Some of the books had helped her many times whenever she had a troublesome dog or gerbil. She was on a mission to see if she could find any critter that could help her and her friends look for Sunset. While she scanned the shelf that had books on horses, she noticed a medium-sized web in a corner where some dust had built up. Fluttershy moved closer to it and saw what appeared to be its eight-legged creator sitting on it. Carefully, she moved closer to it, fully aware that it might be fearful of her.

As the spider sat on its web, it noticed a girl with light pink hair coming closer to it. Immediately, out of fear of being chased away from its home once more, it scurried up to the very edge of its web. Concern was making its tiny body tremble on its web and nearly caused the spider to lose its footing. It tried to make itself as small as it could so the girl wouldn’t see it. The spider had learned to be wary of any humans as they always seemed to hate its presence and call it a vermin or a pest whenever they saw it. Its instincts told it not to trust this strange person, and to run the second it had a chance to get away from them.

“Ple-please, don’t hurt me! I won’t hurt you, I promise!” whispered the spider, hoping the girl would leave it alone.

Fluttershy stopped moving as she heard the spider speak. The tiny squeak of its voice was barely audible in the near-silent library. She got a closer look at the spider, her eyes widening as she saw just how adorable it was. There was a dark lavender marking on its thorax that almost appeared to be in the shape of an M. The rest of its body was either a black or a dark navy blue, but the shadows made it hard to distinguish the color. When the spider moved, it allowed Fluttershy to see the white M on its underside along with several white spots all over its forelegs. The sight of the spider’s cute markings was enough to make Fluttershy smile at the sight of it.

“Oh, no! I would never hurt a cutie such as you,” whispered Fluttershy, trying to keep her voice calm.

“R-really?” asked the spider, cautiously stepping away from the top of its web. “You promise not to hurt me if I come closer?”

“Yes, I promise not to harm you. Besides, why would I harm you when you are so irresistibly cute?” said Fluttershy, holding out her hand for the tiny eight-legged creature.

Upon hearing that, all eight of the spider’s eyes looked up at Fluttershy. It didn’t believe what it had just heard for a moment. Yet, the happy sparkle in the girl’s eyes told the spider she was being truthful about what she said. If it was physically possible for spiders to blush, it was sure that it would’ve had some redding on its cheeks from Fluttershy’s cutie comment. It was unusual for anyone to call it cute. Let alone hold out their hand for it and let it walk on them willingly. Usually, most humans would scream and thrash about violently if any contact had gotten made. Then again, there was nothing ordinary about this girl, especially since it could carry a conversation with her.

“No one has ever said that to me. They usually just say I am vermin or a pest right before they destroy my web and chase me off,” said the spider as it slowly made its way onto the animal lover’s hand. “By the way, how can I talk to you? I haven’t been able to talk to any other humans.”

“I can talk to animals because of my geode. It allows me to communicate with you and all the other animals at the shelter I work at,” replied Fluttershy as she showed her geode to the spider. “So, what’s your name?”

“My name is Mattie, Mattie, the Spider,” replied Mattie as he waved one of his front legs at Fluttershy. “Nice to meet you…”

“Fluttershy,” said Fluttershy, introducing herself to Mattie.

“Well, it’s nice to meet you, Fluttershy,” said Mattie.

Just as Fluttershy was going to speak, Rainbow Dash walked over to where Fluttershy was standing. Applejack and Rarity were right behind her, still holding hands and standing close to each other. Their presence spooked Mattie enough to make him scurry up her arm and hide on her shoulder. His little body trembled in fear once again as he heard the footsteps getting closer to him. Fluttershy stepped away from the bookshelf and walked over to her friends. She was careful to keep Mattie hidden until the introductions had gotten made.

“Hey Fluttershy, did you have any luck with the animals around here?” asked Rainbow Dash.

“Well, actually…” Fluttershy began, waiting for Mattie to step out. “I did come across someone who could help us. A spider…”

Something inside Rarity began to panic as Fluttershy mentioned the word ‘spider.’ Although she understood Fluttershy’s love of all animals, including insects, something about the eight-legged variety always set her on edge. And the eight eyes that were a defining feature of most arachnids made her feel uneasy. Rarity didn’t like the idea that something with that many eyes could be watching her without her knowledge. Not to mention that the webs they created were a nuisance, especially when she walked straight into them. Rarity looked around her and found a nearby book and grabbed it. Just as she was about to throw it at the spider, Fluttershy’s hand stopped her.

“Rarity! He will not hurt you. Now, drop the book, please,” said Fluttershy, glaring at the fashionista before softening her gaze.

Rarity reluctantly lowered the book as Fluttershy let go of her arm. Still, she held the book close to her, not letting Mattie out of her sight. When Applejack grabbed the book, she tightened her grip on it. She looked at Applejack and saw the look of concern in her green eyes. That was enough to make her let go of the book and let the cowgirl set it aside on a table nearby. Now disarmed, Rarity’s hold on her girlfriend’s hand tightened. Spiders unnerved her, and not running away from one was something she was struggling to do at the moment. Willingly seeing a spider was not something that Rarity ever imagined herself doing. Yet, that was precisely what she was doing with Applejack.

“Mattie, meet Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and Rarity,” Fluttershy said, motioning towards her friends.

As Fluttershy introduced each of the girls, they all waved at Mattie, except for Rarity. When Mattie waved back at them, it was too much for Rarity. She stepped away and let go of Applejack’s hand. The room was beginning to swirl around her like she was looking through a kaleidoscope. Rarity stumbled around a bit as she began to lose her balance before she steadied herself on a table. Unable to remain conscious for much longer, Rarity put her hand to her forehead in her usual dramatic flair and felt her body go limp. Her body almost slammed into the floor, but Applejack’s quick reflexes caught her right before her head was about to hit it.

“Oh, my! Is your friend alright?” asked Mattie, scared that he was the cause of Rarity’s sudden fainting spell.

“Yes, she is fine, Mattie. This is typical behavior for Rarity. Honestly, I don’t know why she must act so dramatic sometimes. It does offend some of the animals’ feelings when she reacts like that,” replied Fluttershy.

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. “Come on, Rarity! Cut the act and get up! We need to find Sunset before school closes, and it’s nighttime.”

That statement earned a glare from Applejack. She was close to being fed up with Rainbow Dash’s annoying and obnoxious behavior. Having to endure it all day, it was starting to get on what remained of her last nerve. Applejack had taken a lot of snide remarks from her since they announced that they were dating and that they kissed. She ignored most of them, choosing not to give Rainbow Dash any satisfaction that she was annoying her. However, when those comments had gotten directed at Rarity, the cowgirl’s temper seemed to flare up. She didn’t expect to be so protective of her girlfriend, though she didn’t mind it. It was a good perk of dating someone she cared strongly about. One that Applejack intended to use to make sure that no one would harm her girlfriend.

Rarity became conscious again, blinking as she found herself wrapped in the cowgirl’s strong embrace. The feeling of toned muscles against her skin made her body heat up in response to the contact. She reached up and squeezed her hand tightly against the biceps, which pushed against her own. Rarity could feel the firmness and the heat that radiated off Applejack’s skin. Being so close to her, there was building a desire to strip off the clothing which hid the rest of her girlfriend’s toned body. However, Rarity forced that desire down and just admired the feeling of being in such a secure embrace. It was amazing just how tough the cowgirl was, yet, she somehow managed to keep a feminine look to her figure as well.

“Oh my, Applejack. You’re quite the catcher,” said Rarity, glancing away as she tried to hide her embarrassment at being caught admiring Applejack’s body.

“Well, I wasn’t goin’ to let my girlfriend injure herself. I also didn’t want you to ruin that beautiful dress of yours either,” replied Applejack, helping Rarity back to her feet.

“That’s… sweet of you, AJ. Thank you for catching me,” said Rarity, straightening out her dress and hair.

“You’re, uh, welcome Rare,” replied Applejack as she gripped Rarity’s hand in a gentle grasp, wanting to keep her close.

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes, growing more and more annoyed at Applejack and Rarity’s flirting. She wanted to find out what happened with Sunset Shimmer and to convince her to stop lying to the others. Enough was enough; it was time for the rest of the girls to know what happened on Thursday. She wasn’t going to keep quiet for much longer. A few days had passed since she had told Sunset that she’d keep her secret. And now she was about ready to stay true to the threat she made if Sunset didn’t come clean about what occurred. With her patience running low, Rainbow Dash ignored Applejack and Rarity and made her way over to Fluttershy.

“Okay, Shy, ask your bug friend if he’s seen Sunset anywhere near here so we can find her and make her tell us what’s going on,” said Rainbow Dash, jabbing a finger at Mattie.

“Actually, I am an Arachnida. And your friend could find herself dead from my bite if she continues to insult my species with such a common name,” Mattie said, trying to sound vicious but only succeeding in making Fluttershy giggle at his words.

"Now now, no need to be rude, Mattie,” said Fluttershy, scolding Mattie once she could suppress her laughter enough to speak.

Rainbow Dash noticed that and said, “What did that bug just say about me?” She glared at Mattie, making him shrink towards Fluttershy as she waited for the answer.

“Mattie was just saying that he’s a part of the Arachnida genus,” replied Fluttershy.

“Arachnwhat?” asked Rainbow Dash, confused.

“Arachnida,” said Fluttershy. “He’s part of the Arachnida genus, which is the official name for the class of arachnids, Dash. He’s not just a bug.”

“Whatever. He is still a bug to me,” replied Rainbow Dash, not caring about whether or not Mattie was a spider.

“Hmph. I may just bite you right now for making that comment about me,” said Mattie, lifting his two front legs and waving one of them in a taunting manner towards the athlete.

That prompted Rainbow Dash to point her finger at Mattie, saying. “You better watch it, you eight-legged nuisance!”

Fluttershy, ignoring what Rainbow Dash said, turned to Mattie.

“Mattie, have you or any of your spider siblings seen a red and yellow-haired girl come in here?” asked Fluttershy.

“Hmm, not that I can recall. But my sister has seen a girl matching that description,” replied Mattie.

“What did Mattie say?” asked Applejack, still keeping her grip on Rarity’s hand.

“He said that his sister saw a girl matching Sunset’s description run past here,” said Fluttershy as she looked at Applejack.

“That’s what Miss Cheerilee said too,” Rarity said, recalling what their librarian had said earlier.

“So, Sunset just ran right past here. And we have wasted our fucking time just to find that out. Great! Just great,” said Rainbow Dash, throwing her hands up in frustration.

“Calm down, Dash! I am sure that Mattie can still help us,” said Applejack, keeping an eye on Rainbow Dash. “Just give him a chance.”

“I can’t believe I just stood up for a spider,” thought Applejack as she looked at Rarity, making sure she was okay.

“Mattie, did your sister tell you where the girl was going by any chance?” asked Fluttershy.

“Umm, she did say that the girl was heading towards the entrance of the school,” replied Mattie, tapping one of his legs on his chin.

“Well?” asked Rainbow Dash. “What did the annoying bug say?”

“Please stop calling Mattie a bug, Rainbow Dash. And he said that his sister saw Sunset running towards the entrance of the school,” Fluttershy said, patting Mattie on his tiny thorax.

“So, maybe Sunset was heading to her apartment?” Pinkie Pie suggested as she walked over to the girls, putting down the book about strange delicacies of other cultures that she was reading.

“Yeah, probably. I mean, I would go home if I was in Sunset's position too. It can’t be easy with what she’s hidin’ beneath that hoodie of hers,” said Applejack, looking from Pinkie pie to Fluttershy. “We’ll meet you outside so you can send Mattie home.”

“Okay, thank you. I’ll be right out,” said Fluttershy.

The girls walked out of the library as Fluttershy made her way over to where Mattie's web was still sitting. Fluttershy held out her hand, allowing him to step off of her and back onto his web. Mattie slowly made his way down from her shoulder and onto her arm. The feeling of his legs walking on her arm made Fluttershy giggle a bit. It felt like a feather was getting dragged along her arm, and it was hard to resist the urge to scratch at the itches that formed from it. She waited for Mattie to walk off, but he didn’t. Instead, Fluttershy saw him stop and rest in her palm.

“What’s wrong, Mattie?” asked Fluttershy.

“Fluttershy, I don’t want to go home. They mistreat me here. They also chase me away from my home with a big wooden stick,” said Mattie. “I want to go home with you.”

“Oh, Mattie! I am not sure that Angel will be too happy if I brought home a spider. Even a cute, little, and friendly spider like you.” Fluttershy felt terrible that she had to turn down Mattie’s request.

“Please. Please, let me come home with you,” begged Mattie, using all eight of his eyes to make a spider version of puppy dog eyes while he held up his front legs in a pleading manner.

Fluttershy closed her eyes and tried to resist the cuteness in front of her. She wanted to tell herself that it was better to leave Mattie here. And that if she did bring him home, Angel wouldn’t be too happy about it. She had brought home a few other animals, but Angel didn’t appreciate it when her attention had gotten diverted from him. Unfortunately, for the animal lover, the puppy dog eyes were her one weakness. Opening her eyes, Fluttershy gave into Mattie’s request.

“Okay, Mattie. You may come home with me,” said Fluttershy. “But, you’ll need to stay inside here, so you don’t get hurt.” Fluttershy grabbed a plastic container that previously held her apple slices and held it out to Mattie.

“Alright, thank you, Fluttershy,” said Mattie as he jumped up and into the container with joy.

Fluttershy opened the vent on the container lid before closing it on top of Mattie. She didn’t want her new spider friend to suffocate while he was sitting in her backpack. As she placed the container back into her lunch bag, she was careful about where she set it down. Fluttershy didn’t want to risk injuring Mattie before she got him to her house. Once that had gotten done, she closed up her backpack and slowly slung it over her shoulder. She tried to ignore the thoughts that told her that Angel wasn’t going to like this. Then, she ran outside to join the rest of the girls.

*** *** *** ***

Under the bleachers, Sunset Shimmer remained huddled into a ball, her wings tightly wrapped around her body. She had heard the clamoring of students as they rushed out and ran past her. A few of them remained in the soccer field and forced her to be quiet to avoid getting detected. The sounds of students chatting around her made her feel uncomfortable. Without her hoodie on, that left her demonic appearance exposed for the whole world to see. And that made her wary of doing anything that could draw someone to her and allow them to see what she was trying to keep concealed. Wallflower’s reaction was still seared inside of her memory and reminded her why she had to remain hidden. Thankfully, no teams were practicing for the day. So, there was no risk of anyone discovering her under the bleachers by accident.

However, that was 30 minutes ago. By now, all the students had left the soccer field, leaving behind a silence that made Sunset’s thoughts echo in her mind. Sunset refused to let her wings unfurl from around her body. It wasn’t that the cold fall air made her crave the warmth radiating off them. It was the anxiety caused by the possibility of the girls fearing her monstrous features and powers. Picking her head up from her knees, Sunset got up and cautiously poked her head out from the bleachers. Her eyes and cheeks were still wet from the tears that she had let go after holding them back for so long. She kept her wings close to her body, afraid to move them in case someone saw her. When she saw that there was no one was around, she tentatively unfurled the leathery nuisances that were her wings. That felt good as they had begun to ache from getting forced to remain in one position. Sunset leaned against the back of the bleachers as she struggled to maintain her balance. It was still hard to adjust to having the extra weight on her back.

“You know, you wouldn’t be so scared of the girls distrusting you if you hadn’t-”

“Shut the hell up! I don’t need you to remind me that I fucked up, alright?” said Sunset Shimmer as her tail flicked and burst into flames in response to her growing anger.

“Hmm, let me think about that. Yeah, I am not going to shut up because you tell me to. You need me to remind you to be honest with your friends. Without me, you might as well just go back to being the bully you once were,” replied the redhead’s conscience.

“You know that I could tune you if I wanted to, right?” thought Sunset, not wanting anyone to overhear her talking to herself.

“Oh, you can? If that’s so, how come you haven’t done it already?” asked Sunset’s conscience.

Sunset Shimmer remained silent. She knew, deep down, that she needed her conscience. And despite the constant annoyance of its comments, it kept her on the straight path. It reminded her that she had fought to change her way, to better herself. Her conscience also served as a reminder that if she weren’t careful, all that she gained and worked for would fall apart and disappear. Sunset was well aware that one wrong misstep could cost her all her friendships and any chance to regain them back. And she knew that if she wanted any chance to be Twilight’s girlfriend, she would have to come clean about her past. She knew it wasn’t right to advance their relationship when she still had secrets that needed to get told. Besides, Sunset wanted to be completely open and honest with Twilight before she started their relationship, assuming that she would want to be in one when she learned everything.

“Okay, maybe I can’t tune you out. Maybe I do need you to remind me that I will lose everything if I make the wrong choice. But that doesn’t mean you get to act all high and mighty about it, okay?” Sunset thought as she grabbed her hoodie and slipped her arms into it as her wings rested along her back.

“Hey, if you didn’t want to put up with your conscience reminding her to tell the truth, then maybe you should have been upfront with Twilight since the beginning of your friendship. Instead, you just told one lie after another, like your past was going to damn you if Twilight knew about it,” Sunset’s inner voice said before falling silent.

Sunset Shimmer rolled her eyes, annoyed by what her conscience was saying.

“Glad to see that you understand the importance of what I am saying to you. As for the gloating, I think I am entitled to do that. It’s not the easiest thing to be your conscience when you barely listen to me,” said the redhead’s conscience.

“Oh, sweet Celestia! Now you sound like that self-entitled magician Trixie. And that’s not a compliment,” thought Sunset Shimmer as she adjusted the hoodie over her wings before zipping it close. It felt good to have her wings hidden once again.

“Hmpf. I guess I will shut up… for now,” said Sunset’s inner voice.

After that, Sunset Shimmer was left alone with just her thoughts for company. As Sunset got her gloves on, she made her way over to her messenger bag and began to search for her phone. She had learned to keep it in her bag for safekeeping. She had a record of her phone falling from her pocket and completely shattering. It was starting to get expensive having to pay for a new phone every time she dropped her previous one. And her paycheck was going to continue to cover the expenses. So, she put it in her bag whenever she didn’t need to have it on her. Finally, after a few minutes of pushing past papers, Sunset found her phone at the bottom. Just as she pulled it out, she caught sight of her reflection in the blackness of her screen.

Her eyes looked like they usually would before her transformation happened, thanks to the contacts, which had remained in place. And they sat comfortably in her eyes, well, as comfortable as they could be for being contacts. However, Sunset knew what laid beneath the unassuming appearance of her eyes. The sight of them was a direct contrast with her blood-red skin. It made her wish that her contacts weren’t in, so that way, they matched the rest of her. Yet, Sunset knew that she needed them to conceal the most frightening feature of her new look. If the girls were to see the blackness which now surrounded her cyan pupils, it would likely frighten them. Sunset adjusted her phone upwards, allowing her to see her ears. They looked like she had lost a fight with a pair of scissors. She chuckled a little at the thought, making her twitch in response. That stopped her from laughing.

“I look like a monster. That’s all Twilight will see if I am not careful with how I tell her. And honestly, if she saw me that way, I wouldn’t blame her. I have been acting like she is not worthy of my trust or the truth. I kept lying to her left and right until Trixie exposed my secret to her. Now, I can’t seem to come clean about the most important part of my past, the part that me and her share in common,” thought Sunset as she lowered her phone, looking away from her reflection.

Sunset Shimmer slipped her phone into her pocket and put her sunglasses back on. She sat back down next to her bag and listened to the sounds of birds chirping around her. That was the only sound that kept her from her thoughts. And she was grateful for the distraction. Her thoughts were her enemies right now, bringing her worst fears to the front of her mind. Sunset slipped her gloves back on as she leaned herself against the back of the bleachers. With her claws covered, she felt a bit safer and less exposed. Unfortunately, that relief only lasted for a few seconds. She knew that her claws would get shown once more when she revealed them to the girls. Although she feared the girls’ reactions to her appearance, there was only one reaction she feared the most – Twilight Sparkle’s. She wasn’t sure what she would do if Twilight found it repulsive to look at or couldn’t accept her demonic form. Sighing, Sunset tried to calm herself down and focus on just telling Twilight and the girls what happened to her on Thursday.

*** *** *** ***

In front of the school, Applejack and the girls saw Fluttershy running towards them from her van. Her backpack was in her van, sitting in the shade so Mattie wouldn’t get hot while she was out helping her friends. She didn’t want to risk injuring her new spider friend while she and the girls tried to locate Sunset. The other girls had also put away their backpacks in their own vehicles, deeming them too heavy to be carrying around for much longer. Applejack, who found it suspicious that Fluttershy had taken a bit longer than she’d expected, looked at the animal lover.

“Shy, why in tarnation were you taking so long?” asked Applejack as Fluttershy approached her and the girls.

“Oh, Mattie wanted to come home with me. So… I gave in and let him come with me,” replied Fluttershy.

“And you’re sure that Angel is gonna be okay with that?” Rainbow Dash asked, crossing her arms.

“Well, I am not sure he’ll be against it,” said Fluttershy, lowering her head. “But, I will ask him if he is before I bring Mattie in with me.”

“Well, if Angel does decide that he likes his new spider brother, I will throw Mattie a ‘Welcome to your new Home’ party,” said Pinkie Pie, squealing as party ideas raced through her head.

“Okay, now that’s out of the way, can we go to Sunset’s apartment? I want to find out why the hell she’d ditch us without any warning,’ said Rainbow Dash, growing impatient waiting for the girls to get a move one, especially after they had wasted their time at the library.

“Rainbow Dash! Quit bein’ so impatient,” said Applejack, glaring at the polychromatic athlete.

“Sorry…” was all Rainbow Dash could say. She looked down and rubbed her arm, knowing that she had gotten on the girls’ nerves again.

Just when Applejack was about to speak, the sound of rustling bushes stopped her. She and the girls turned to look at the wooded area that surrounded their school. As they gazed at the bushes, something pushed aside their branches. Something that looked like a grime-covered golden-green hand made out of plastic with a metal frame buried within it. Soon that hand was joined by an arm, then a leg and another arm until there was a full body of an animatronic standing in front of them. Its right ear was mostly intact with some decay showing, but the left one was mostly gone, and a few wires were jutting out from what remained of it. Along its body, the plastic had many holes in it from years of decay and neglect. Some were small, while others were large enough to give a good view of the endoskeleton inside.

As the girls examined the body, they could see there was something resembling a human corpse trapped inside the confines of the animatronic. When they reached its legs, they could see the plastic covered had either melted or deteriorated away, leaving behind the metal of the shins exposed down to the feet of it. There were some weird pinkish wires that look similar to the ligaments of a human. As it stepped out from the bushes, a stench of old oil and rotting flesh wafted towards the girls. Rarity, having the weaker stomach of the girls, covered her mouth in an attempt to keep herself from vomiting at the smell.

“Who the hell are you?!” shouted Rainbow Dash, standing next to Applejack. “And what exactly are you doing here?”

“I am glad you asked that question,” said the animatronic, its voice staticky and somewhat garbled. “The name is… William Afton. However, you may call me Springtrap.”

As Springtrap spoke, the girls saw something pink and flesh-like inside of his mouth. It appeared to have some human teeth behind the yellowed plastic teeth of the animatronic. They seemed to jut out of what remained of a human jaw bone and skull. Several poles jutted upward from the bottom jaw, ending in sharp points similar to nails. Some of them penetrated up to his cheekbone. Parts of the poles showed through the mass as they made their way upward. There were also some wires digging into the pink mass, which had gotten contained inside. Two wires attached themselves to Springtrap’s eye sockets and pulled them higher while two wires yanked the bottom portion of them down. Taking the place of where his human eyes once sat were two fake plastic eyeballs. Yet, there was a human likeness to them that creeped Rainbow Dash out.

“Well, Springtrap, what the fuck are you doing here?” asked Rainbow Dash.

“Ah, you see… I am here to kill all of you. Then, I will find those wretched children and get rid of them once and for all,” replied Springtrap, leaning down towards Rainbow Dash close enough that his face was almost touching hers.

“Well, I have a newsflash for you. We’ll kick your ass and take you down,” Rainbow Dash said, pushing Springtrap’s face out of hers.

“Oh, really? Do you think you can take on an army of me?” asked Springtrap as all 60 of his doppelgangers stepped out of their hiding spots and stood behind him. “You think you can defeat 60 me?”

The girls stepped back and huddled closer together as they looked at the large group of doppelgangers. The number of doppelgangers made them realize the danger they were now facing. They could see that they had gotten vastly outnumbered ten to one. And all of the Springtrap copies were about Springtrap’s height and looked exactly like him, hiding the real one in the sea of them. Now Twilight’s extra firepower as Midnight Sparkle would come in hand to fight a majority of them off. Otherwise, they were likely to suffer severe injuries or worse. However, it seemed that they were on their own for the time being. Without Sunset Shimmer or Twilight Sparkle fighting alongside them, the girls’ chances against the army of Springtraps dropped even lower. As each of the girls faced the reality that they were going to likely get killed, Applejack felt Rarity grip her hand tightly.

“Applejack, I-I don’t think we can battle that many animatronics at once. Especially without Twilight or Sunset here with us,” said Rarity, eyeing the crowd of Springtraps.

“I agree with you, Rare. However, I don’t think William here is givin’ us much of a choice in that matter,” replied Applejack. “We’re outnumbered… by a lot of these damned animatronics. And we’re gonna have to fight if we want to warn Sunset and Twilight.”

Without waiting for the girls to make the first move, Springtrap raised his arm and shouted, “Attack them!”

Seconds later, the horde of Springtraps ran towards the girls. A few of the doppelgangers were stupid enough not to notice the pieces of metal from cans and wrappers strewn about the parking lot. That took care of 15 Springtraps and dropped the number down to 45 as they dissolved into magic. The girls watched as the concentrated equestrian magic floated back to Springtrap, allowing them to see where he was in the midst of his doppelgangers. Applejack, seeing one of the doppelgangers about to punch Rainbow Dash, pulled her and Rarity back just as it was about to swing at them. That caused the Springtrap to lose its balance and nearly topple over.

“Rarity, do you think that you can make a shield or barrier around us?” asked Applejack, grabbing a rock and throwing it at one of the doppelgangers. However, it just caught the stone and crushed it in its palm.

“I would, but-” Rarity felt the contents of her stomach come up her throat. She managed to force it back down, coughing at the stinging sensation it left behind. “I don’t… think I… can.”

During the conversation, one of the Springtraps ran towards Applejack and jumped onto her. She tried to brace herself as the heavy animatronic landed on top of her. But due to the weight, she was knocked to the ground where a jagged piece of glass sliced through the skin of her forearm. That elicited a groan from her as she rolled onto her back. As Applejack held the animatronic over her body, the warm, red liquid trickled down her arm, staining her shirt as it dripped down onto it. Searing pain ran throughout her whole arm, distracting her for a moment and allowing the Springtrap an opportunity to attack her. Taking that opportunity, the doppelganger overpowered the cowgirl and landed a punch to her face. The impact hit her jaw and caused her head to slam against the ground. A small groan slipped past her lips as her head throbbed in response to the collision. She could feel the rough plastic that remained on its hand as it scraped across her cheek, leaving behind three red marks.

After a few seconds, Applejack managed to push the animatronic off of herself. But the task was a struggle, and having blood pouring out her arm wasn’t making it any easier. Just as she had started to push herself off the ground, Applejack saw Fluttershy run past her and duck beneath a set of tables nearby. Several of the doppelgangers that were chasing her stopped and looked around, seemingly unaware of where the animal lover had disappeared to. The sight made her realize that the doppelgangers weren’t very smart and were easy to fool. Not wanting to leave the girls on their own, the cowgirl shifted her attention over to Rarity, who was clutching her stomach with a pained expression on her face. Applejack was about to stand up when she saw another Springtrap heading right towards her girlfriend.

“Rarity, watch out!” shouted Applejack, getting up to her feet and running over to her girlfriend as she stood in front of her.

Just as Applejack stood in front of the doppelganger, she felt herself getting thrown to the side. As she was pushed, the force of it made her slam into a tree, knocking the wind of her chest. She slumped downward as she tried to recover from the sudden crash. Applejack watched as Rarity caved into the awful smell and vomited violently. A small smile appeared on her face when she saw the doppelganger’s quizzical look as it watched Rarity. It seemed puzzled by what was happening in front of it. However, as her stomach finished heaving out what remained of her lunch, the Springtrap seemed to remember its earlier mission. Applejack tried to force herself back to her feet, but her body was growing weaker from blood loss. That forced her to watch in terror as it crashed its fist into Rarity’s abdomen, causing her to collapse to her knees.

Rarity, still recovering from puking out the contents of her stomach, felt a hard impact against her abdomen. The force of the punch and the pain that accompanied it made her knees buckle beneath her. She groaned as her knees contacted with the rough pavement, making her already sore throat ache even more. The burning sensation made every breath she took in sting against the rawness of her throat. And it didn’t help that she was coughing from the punch to her gut. Rarity looked up in time to see a plastic hand coming from her left and headed straight for her head. The smell that radiated off it made her feel queasy as she tried to ignore her urges to vomit again. As the fist slammed into her face, she felt her whole body collapse beneath her as she was pushed all the way to the ground. Her vision was blurry from the impact’s close proximity to her eye socket. Rarity placed her hands on the cold pavement as she tried to push herself back up with shaky arms.

Unfortunately, just as she was about to stand back on her feet, Rarity saw another fist quickly coming from her right and aimed directly at her face. The hit sent her flying away from the rest of the girls, and she landed a few feet from where Applejack was still sitting slumped against a tree. The fashionista’s body crashed into the pavement, which elicited a sickening crack from her shoulder, indicating that it had popped free from its socket. Following behind her shoulder, the next thing to impact with the ground was her head. It slammed down so hard that it made her blackout and lay motionless on the spot where she landed. The doppelganger, satisfied with what it had accomplished, turned to join the growing group around Rainbow Dash.

“Ra-rarity?!” coughed Applejack, still trying to catch her breath. “Are y-you okay?”

The fashionista groaned as she came back into consciousness. The light from the sun shining down on her made her squint as she tried not to get blinded. She pushed herself up onto her one elbow, being careful not to use her injured shoulder in the process. She opened her eyes a bit more now that the sun was no longer shining directly in them. Rarity blinked, trying to see through the blurriness of her vision. However, that did little to alleviate the fuzziness around the edges. She figured that her head had gotten hit pretty hard before she blacked out. The jackhammer-like pounding in Rarity’s head confirmed that for her.

“Well, aside from my dislocated shoulder, I think I am mostly okay,” replied Rarity, still unable to see much of anything through the haze still clouding her vision.

“Whew, that’s good,” said Applejack.

But as Applejack glanced over at the rest of the girls, she saw that Rainbow Dash was getting surrounded by numerous Springtraps. Although her speeding past them before they could get close was working for the moment, it was clear that it wasn’t going to work for much longer. The more doppelgangers that surrounded her, the less room she had to move and dodge them. Rainbow Dash ducked down as one of the Springtraps tried to grab her arm and prevent her from speeding away.

“Well, it looks like Dash isn’t so lucky…” said Applejack.

The cowgirl tried to push herself up using the tree behind her, but she slipped in the pool of blood that had collected next to her. That resulted in her injured arm becoming coated in a mix of soil and blood as well as grass blades. She tried to stand once more. This time, Applejack was successful, but her body was trembling from the lack of blood remaining inside of her. That caused her to use the tree for support as she tried to stay on her feet. Unfortunately, she had to use her bad arm, and that made the cut sting even more as the rough bark of the tree rubbed against it. She gasped and inhaled sharply as she tried to fight the pain which raced up her whole arm. While Applejack was a tough cowgirl, this pain was something unlike any other, and it tested her limits when it came to her pain tolerance.

In an attempt to get to Rainbow Dash’s side and help her, the cowgirl used her strength and pushed herself away from the tree’s support. But in doing that, she made her body shake even more as her legs struggled to support her weight. She collapsed after a few minutes, her legs giving way beneath her. Just as her knees slammed against the ground, Applejack felt a piece of metal slash its way onto her thigh. Seconds after that happened, there were two rivers of blood flowing from the fresh wounds and past the metal still stuck in her skin. The warmth of her blood running down her thigh was barely distracting her from the growing throbbing sensation in her leg. Applejack gingerly placed her hand near the new wound and felt the warmth radiating off the area surrounding it. Pulling her hand back, she tried to ignore the throb of her pulse as her blood pooled around her. She looked in the direction of where the shrapnel came from and saw tha it was flung by Rainbow Dash using her super-speed as she ducked beneath one of the Springtrap doppelgangers.

“Ah!” screamed Rarity as she collapsed onto her back, her stomach punctured by one of the metal pieces that had gotten flung by Rainbow Dash.

Rarity glanced down to see the piece of shrapnel had embedded itself rather deep into her abdomen. Placing a hand on the top of it, she attempted to remove it. However, just one tug was enough to send a shockwave of pain throughout her whole body. It was like a serrated saw was getting dragged through her intestinal tract very slowly. That was enough to make her stop pulling on it. She quickly let go and pulled her hand away from it. It was painfully clear there was no way she could remove it herself. Perhaps it was better that way, given that she had nothing to control the bleeding once it had gotten removed anyway. Rarity sighed while remaining as still as she could, trying to breathe slowly. The shrapnel hindered her breathing a bit, but she could manage for the time being.

Meanwhile, Rainbow Dash was getting tired of running around and narrowly missing getting punched. As she ran to the right of one Springtrap, she came face to face with another Springtrap doppelganger. Due to exhaustion, her reflexes were slower, and thus she didn’t react quickly to avoid the incoming punch. Before she knew what was happening, she felt a sickening crack as the doppelganger’s fist contacted with her nose and broke it. That also sent her flying into one of the two trash cans nearby. As Rainbow Dash’s back slammed into the metal trash can, she felt the lid fall and hit her head, making her dizzy and disorienting her in the process.

“Woah, that was one of hell of a punch, Springtrap,” mumbled Rainbow Dash as she tried to regain her bearings.

Several of Springtrap’s doppelgangers touched the second metal trash can by accident, making their numbers dwindle from 45 to 35. Rainbow Dash, still dazed from sudden action of getting punched and thrown back against some trash cans, was unaware of that. However, she did notice the two doppelgangers approaching her and readying their fists for impact. Still weak from the first punch she’d received, she held up her arm and tried to keep it steady. Rainbow Dash felt the first blow land on her arm, spraining her wrist and bruising her forearm. The second of the blows landed squarely on the side of her head, rendering her unconscious.

In another part of the parking lot, Pinkie Pie was throwing a cupcake at two doppelgangers. The blast that followed after the cupcake hit the ground knocked one of the Springtraps off balance and sent it tumbling into the other one. The two Springtraps fell to the pavement with a loud thud, alerting the other doppelgangers to what happened. The remaining doppelgangers all turned to face the pink-haired girl, their eyes glowing red. Pinkie Pie, seeing a chance to grab her backpack, ran towards her car. She dodged one of the Springtrap’s punches aimed at her head. After running away from the group, she opened her car door and grabbed her bag from the passenger seat. She quickly reached in and hoped to find the spare bag of sugar cookies she had brought with her. Instead, all she pulled out was an empty bag that just had the crumbling remains of her cookies.

“Oh, darn! I must’ve eaten them all during lunch,” said Pinkie Pie, tossing her backpack back into her car.

Pinkie Pie slammed her car door shut and turned to the growing crowd of Springtraps that were approaching her. She gulped, realizing that she was out of ammo and didn’t have a way to fight back against them. All her sugary treats had gotten used up to get away from the others. Thankfully, she still had her wits and Pinky sense to help her fight them. As one of the Springtraps walked up to her, she backed up as much as she could. As it tried to take a swing at Pinkie Pie, she ducked down, making it hit the other copy that was coming up behind her. With them down, she darted away while she had a chance to break away from them.

“Gah! You dumbasses, don’t punch each other. Punch that perky, pink-haired bitch in front of you!” shouted Springtrap, facepalming at his doppelgangers stupidity.

The two doppelgangers that Pinkie Pie had knocked down earlier with her cupcake blast got up and walked over to where the rest of their group was. They started off walking but then began to sprint as they charged at her. Unfortunately, the two didn’t account for her moving out of the way and dodging their attack. As they continued running, unable to stop themselves, they barreled full force into the group of Springtraps that were running behind Pinkie Pie. When they impacted with the doppelgangers, they knocked all but two of the Springtraps down. The chaos gave Pinkie Pie enough time to get a reasonable distance between her and them.

“Oh, my-stop being fucking idiots for two damn seconds!" Springtrap shouted, starting to let his anger get out of control.

Pinkie Pie turned around to face one of the doppelgangers and said, “Over here, you hunk of old metal!”

The Springtrap growled and lunged for Pinkie Pie. However, Pinkie Pie was faster and managed to skip to the side, dodging its attack. Still stuck in the momentum of the lunge, the Springtrap had gotten sent flying head-first into a tree. The tree’s trunk splintered somewhat as the heavy animatronic barreled into it. As a result of the impact, a cascade of leaves and branches fell onto it. Seconds later, the tree snapped in half and fell on top of the doppelganger. Pinkie Pie turned to see what happened before grabbing a nearby can and throwing it at the Springtrap. She had to make sure that it had gotten knocked out. Yet, before she had a chance to see it dissipate into a puddle of magic, another doppelganger distracted her by throwing a rock at her. The stone missed her hitting her arm by a few feet and landed near the broken tree.

“Ooh, that was a close one,” said Pinkie Pie as she skipped past two of the Springtraps that attempted to catch her. “Anyone else wanna try to get me?”

One of the Springtraps took the opportunity and tried to jump on Pinkie Pie. They launched themselves into the air, fully intent on landing the attack. They were just above her when she simply just stepped to the left. That left them to fall face-first onto the pavement below. The sound was comparable to thunder booming overhead while having numerous cannons going off at the same time. A lot of pieces of plastic flew off in several directions as its body slammed into the ground. Sparks also cascaded from its body as its circuits got jarred and jolted around a bit. A few of the pieces hit her legs and arms, causing a couple of scrapes to form from the rough edges on the plastic. Pinkie Pie, seemingly unaware of the injuries, giggled at the sight of the dazed doppelganger trying to get back up. However, its circuits had gotten pretty fried from the crash, leaving it a drunk bumbling idiot.

“Oh, well! Nice try!” singsonged Pinkie Pie as she looked away and turned her attention to the others. “Who’s up for another round?”

“You no good for nothing, incompetent assholes! Get your fucking act together and kill that bitch, before I decide to kill you myself!” shouted Springtrap, growing more annoyed by Pinkie Pie’s ability to dodge his doppelganger’s attacks.

Unfortunately, Pinkie Pie’s lucky streak was about to run out. She was unaware of three doppelgangers that were approaching her. One was coming up behind her, while two others came up on her left and right. Just as she spun around to see the one coming up behind her, she got ambushed by the two on either side of her. She didn’t have enough time to react as each of the Springtraps grabbed her arms and held her in their grasp. Pinkie Pie looked up at the one still standing in front of her. It raised its fist, and it was heading straight at her cheekbone. She closed her eyes as she felt the rough plastic brush against her skin. As soon as she didn’t feel the fist against her cheekbone, she opened her eyes and saw that the Springtrap had picked up a couple of pieces of scrap that came from one of its buddies.

The metal pieces had gotten bent to form three long, very sharp, very thick prongs on the end. While Pinkie Pie struggled against the two Springtrap doppelgangers restraining her, she saw the one in front move closer to her. Her eyes widened as she felt the improvised metal weapon getting forced deep into her abdomen. Pinkie Pie let out a banshee-like scream of agony as she felt immense pain radiate out from her stomach. The three prongs ripped through her skin like blades cutting through paper, causing three deep gashes where they went in. The wounds were extensive enough that one could see a few inches into them. Immediately, blood poured out around the metal, staining her white shirt and running down to her skirt. The Springtrap quickly yanked out the weapon and, without any warning, thrashed it back in again. This time, it was lower than the first set, nearing the waistband of her bloodsoaked skirt. Once the prongs were in, it shoved them as deep as it could into her abdomen.

“Oweee…” moaned Pinkie Pie as the pain increased and left her unable to fight back. “That hurt.”

The doppelganger, not satisfied with the amount of pain that Pinkie Pie was suffering, pulled down on the makeshift weapon. As it slowly made its way through her skin, Pinkie Pie let out a blood-curdling scream. More blood poured out, further staining her shirt and skirt and causing severe blood loss. Every motion of it made her feel like she was getting gutted alive. The cheerful demeanor she was known for disappeared the longer the pain dragged out. Now, she was just a shell of her usual self and in tremendous pain. Fluttershy, who was still hiding beneath a table, heard her party friend’s scream. That made her huddle into a tight ball and shake as her fear overtook her.

“Please… stop…” begged Pinkie Pie as she struggled to stay conscious.

The Springtrap responded by forcefully yanking out the weapon while still pulling downward. As the weapon got yanked away, a river of warm blood began to pour out from the fresh wound, dripping down into the puddle of blood that was now forming at Pinkie Pie’s feet. Through her hazy vision, Pinkie Pie saw the three prongs dripping with her blood glinting in the sunlight. Her body ached all over from the shock and pain caused by her attack. She could barely stand as her legs shook beneath her weight. However, she didn’t see that the Springtrap was getting ready to launch another attack. This time, it aimed the weapon at her head and shoved at full force towards her. That resulted in three semi-deep scrapes on the top of her scalp. With that blow, Pinkie Pie fell unconscious, partly because of blood loss and the impact on her skull. Not seeming to care about what they did, the two doppelgangers that were holding her up, let go of her arms. She fell to the ground, unable to stand or do anything to catch herself anymore.

That left Fluttershy as the last of the girls to be unharmed and conscious. By some miracle, Springtrap’s army of doppelgangers was stupid enough not to look under the tables. She watched with wide eyes as Pinkie Pie had gotten dropped into a pool of her blood. The sound of Pinkie Pie’s body splashing into the red liquid made Fluttershy cover her mouth as she fought the urge to throw up. Just then, a Springtrap walked past the table she was hiding under. Still covering her mouth, she fought everything telling her to scream. She waited until it had turned its back to her before she made a run for it. Fluttershy made her way towards the soccer field, hoping to find Sunset Shimmer or Twilight Sparkle.

One of the Springtraps noticed that Fluttershy was getting away. Not wanting that to happen, it ran after her and grabbed her arm. The rough plastic covering its hand scratched her arm, and left several scrapes as she tried to twist her arm free. However, it didn’t care and just tightened its grip in response. No blood had gotten drawn from the scrapes, but the tightened grip and sharp edges threatened to change that. The pain of her arm getting squeezed was enough to make the animal lover whimper and stop fighting back. That pleased the doppelganger to see it had such weak prey to kill. The smell coming off of the Springtrap intensified as it stepped closer to the quivering girl. If there weren't already a grin present onto its face, it would’ve smiled at the sight of her fear.

“L-let go of m-me!” shouted Fluttershy as she struggled to free her arm.

Sunset Shimmer, who was still sitting underneath the bleachers, heard the familiar voice calling out. She threw up her hood and got to her feet. “Fluttershy? Why is she screaming all of a sudden?”

Fluttershy finally managed to free her arm from the doppelganger’s grasp, injuring her arm and causing some blood to flow from the deepened scrapes. However, that was the last thing on her mind as she made her way over to the bleachers. Her fear was threatening to paralyze her as she heard the loud steps of the animatronics behind her. Thankfully, just as she reached them, Fluttershy saw that Sunset Shimmer was there. A wave of relief flooded through her as her risky endeavor paid off. She ran over to Sunset, not wanting to get ambushed by the Springtraps coming after her.

Sunset Shimmer, surprised to see the injuries on Fluttershy’s arm, staggered back when she saw her approach her. Although she was ready to tell the girls what occurred on Thursday, she still wasn’t willing to be super close to any of them knowing what she looked like now. If things were to go south, she didn’t want to injure them with her claws or magic accidentally. However, for the girls and Twilight Sparkle, she was willing to work on that and get over her hesitation. As Sunset stood there with Fluttershy, her attention had gotten drawn over to one of the Springtraps behind Fluttershy. It was walking near Rainbow Dash and accidentally stepped on the trash can lid next to her. That caused it to dissipate into a puddle of equestrian magic before disappearing back to Springtrap himself.

“Hmm, that’s odd. That must be a copy of Springtrap, and its weakness is any metal that isn’t part of it. And when it touches it, it disappears and returns to Springtrap,” thought Sunset Shimmer.

‘Oh, S-Sunset! I am so glad that I found you,” said Fluttershy as she stepped away from Sunset, noticing the uneasiness in the redhead.

“What is going on, Shy? Where are the rest of the girls?” asked Sunset Shimmer, turning her attention to the animal lover.

Fluttershy was violently quivering as she tried to ignore the sounds of the approaching doppelgangers. “Sp-Springtrap ambushed us just as we w-were going to f-find you. Pinkie and Rai-Rainbow are un-unconscious now.”

“What about AJ or Rarity?” asked Sunset Shimmer, her concern growing in her voice.

“Ap-Applejack and Rarity are injured pretty badly, but th-they are co-conscious,” replied Fluttershy, looking behind her. “Sunset, please help me.”

“I’ll do what I can, Fluttershy,” said Sunset Shimmer, forcing herself to place her hand on the animal lover’s shoulder, knowing that it would help calm her.

Sunset Shimmer walked away from Fluttershy and looked around for any nearby metal object. Underneath a bush, she found an old metal pipe that had gotten somewhat rusted from being exposed to open air for so long. It was about a foot long and 6-7 inches in diameter, perfect for a makeshift bat. Some of the rust flaked off as she jabbed it with her foot. Sunset was thankful that she had gotten her tetanus shot when she first arrived here. That much rust was likely to hurt her otherwise. With a careful hand, she grabbed it and then walked over to where her messenger bag was still sitting.

“Stay here. I will deal with these robotic bastards myself. No one, especially some crazed, murderous rabbit, is going to hurt my friends and walk away,” said Sunset Shimmer, gripping the pipe in her right hand while flinging her bag over her shoulder.

“O-okay, Sunset,” said Fluttershy as she slunk even further underneath the bleachers.

The redhead walked out from the bleachers, the pipe in her tight grip, and ready to swing at the first Springtrap to make its move. Anger flooded through her as a river would flow through a forest. Springtrap had angered Sunset, something he was soon going to regret doing. Standing in the parking lot, she saw her bike nearby and tossed her bag next to it, not wanting it to get used against her. Once she was free from the weight of her bag, Sunset gripped the pipe with both hands, much like a batter would as they stepped up to the home base. She looked around and saw the girls scattered about, unable to fight anymore with their injuries. The sight was enough to make her want to vomit. However, she fought the urge and focused on getting the one responsible for it.

“Let’s play ball, Springtrap,” said Sunset Shimmer as she swung at one of his doppelgangers that charged at her.

The Springtrap dissipated into a shimmering iridescent puddle of equestrian magic. Distracted by it floating back to Springtrap, Sunset failed to notice the doppelganger coming up behind her. It yanked down on her hood, revealing her face completely to the girls. Not caring that she was exposed, Sunset swung the pipe at it, hitting it right in the chest. Like the first Springtrap, it too disappeared into a puddle and floated away. Just as she went to pull her hood back up, she was attacked by another Springtrap running up to her. Again, she slammed the pipe directly into it and hit it in the face. For a moment, it stood still, dazed by the sudden action of getting smacked. But it too dissolved into concentrated magic after a few seconds passed.

Applejack, still weak from the blood loss, looked up as she heard the sound of clashing metal. She saw Sunset Shimmer holding a metal pipe in one hand; however, her attention got directed somewhere else. Although her vision was a bit blurry from her loss of blood, she could see that Sunset’s skin was red, just like when she had transformed into Demon Shimmer the first time. That made her sit up a little bit, shocked by the drastic change to Sunset’s skin. As Applejack watched her slap five more copies of Springtrap with the pipe, she spotted two fangs in place of her lateral incisors. She didn’t seem to notice the pile of iridescent magic that floated away as she eyed Sunset and her fangs with suspicion.

“What the-?” said Applejack, keeping her voice down. “Sunset looks almost exactly like Demon Shimmer, minus the overly dramatic attitude. But is that our friend or… has she just been acting for the last few days?”

Rarity, hearing Applejack talking about Sunset, looked at the redhead. She grimaced as she felt the metal shard embedded in her abdomen move with her, but she saw what the cowgirl was talking about. Her vision was still black around the edge due to the likely concussion that she had suffered. There was also a pounding in her head, but she ignored it for the time being as she was more focused on Sunset Shimmer. Rarity could make out Sunset’s red skin and pointed ears despite her vision blurring a little every time she blinked. When the redhead got close to her, she attempted to speak.

“S-Su-Sunset…?” asked Rarity, her voice weak and hoarse from vomiting earlier.

Sunset Shimmer heard Rarity’s voice calling her name. For a brief moment, she looked back at her while there were no Springtraps attacking her. She could see that Rarity was somewhat conscious, but just barely. However, she knew that she was awake enough to see what was no longer hidden by her hood. That made Sunset’s heart thunder in her chest as she tried to control her panic. She knew that eventually, she was going to see her appearance, but this was sooner than she had expected. And it made her worry if Rarity was going to freak out because she had seen it. Rarity had a good view of what she looked like now that she had gotten exposed in broad daylight. Sunset froze as she and Rarity locked eyes, causing her to get trampled by one of the Springtraps.

As Sunset’s back slammed against the ground, she felt her tail slip free from her jeans. The stench of decaying flesh and old grime was making her stomach contents want to come up. However, she fought it as she tried to push off the Springtrap. With the pipe still in her hand, she swung it at the Springtrap’s head. It instantly disappeared in a cloud of iridescent magic before floating away. That gave her enough time to get off the ground and prepare for the next one. Back on her feet, Sunset could feel her tail swish behind her, seemingly happy to be free from its confinement. She groaned, trying her best to ignore the fact that the girls could see it and that it was twitching even more in reaction to her growing panic.

“Wh-why do you have a tail, S-Sunset?” asked Rarity, looking between Sunset Shimmer and the red and yellow mass of hair swinging behind her.

“Rar-” Sunset Shimmer was cut off as she turned around and hit three Springtraps with the side of the pipe. “Rarity, I will explain later! Right now, I am busy trying to save you and the rest of the girls.”

Applejack glared at the redhead for yelling at Rarity. However, as she saw that Sunset was battling four Springtraps that were trying to grip her hood and yank her down to the ground, she held her tongue. For now, she would let it go and ignore it as Sunset already had enough to deal with at the moment. She had to admit that she was grateful for Sunset helping them out of their situation, but that didn’t excuse her lying to them for almost a week. Being someone who valued honesty, it was hurtful to see that her friend would’ve chosen to lie about looking like Demon Shimmer rather than being honest about it. Applejack wanted answers, honest ones when this was over, and she had a chance to talk with her. Sighing, she rested her head against the tree as she struggled to remain conscious. The amount of blood she had lost was beginning to take its toll, and she was slowly slipping into a state of unconsciousness as she sat there.

Sunset Shimmer turned the pipe sideways as she hit the three in front of her with it. The one behind her managed to grip her hood and pull her towards it. That prompted her to jab the pipe backward, slamming it with the end of the pipe. Sunset felt the weight on her hoodie lighten up as the Springtrap disappeared. She adjusted the hoodie around her neck so that the zipper no longer pressed against her neck. Just as soon as she finished doing that, she saw that three more Springtrap doppelgangers were heading towards her.

“Fuck! How many of you dumbasses are there? And why can’t you all just give me five fucking seconds to breathe!?” shouted Sunset Shimmer, rolling her eyes as she readied the pipe.

As the Springtraps neared Sunset Shimmer, one of them saw an opportunity to grab her tail and took it. Sunset jumped as she felt a sharp tug on her tail. It was like her skin was getting pulled along with it, making all the more painful for her. She whipped around and found the Springtrap holding up both of its hands and stepping away from her.

“Ouch! Hey, that is attached to me, you demented scrap heap. Stop yanking it!” Sunset shouted, glaring at the Springtrap.

Not wasting any more time, Sunset smacked its head with the pipe. It dissolved like all the others one before it, floating back to Springtrap once it had completely turned into a puddle. By now, her body was beginning to ache from all the fighting. However, she knew that she had to continue in order to save her friends. Sunset turned to its two companions and raised the pipe up.

“Oh, so you want to get beat up by me? Well, come at me, you two walking tin cans,” said Sunset as they began to charge at her.

As Sunset ran towards them, she held the pipe sideways, allowing her to hit them at the same time. The Springtraps seemed unaware of what was going to happen to them as they charged at her. She swung the pipe and hit both of them in the chest. One after the other, the two Springtraps were pulled back to Springtrap, the iridescent magic shimmering in the sunlight as it floated through the air. Sunset looked around her and sighed, relieved to have a moment to breathe. Unfortunately, that moment didn’t last long as five more Springtraps decided it was time to ambush her.

“Ugh, there are way too many of you running around," said Sunset, kicking a trash can lid that was nearby with her foot, sliding it towards them.

As the doppelgangers saw the lid sliding towards them, they froze. The sudden change from getting hit with a pipe to a lid getting pushed to them confused them. They remained still as the first of their group touched the edge of the lid and disappeared. It dissolved, and the rest of the Springtraps turned to the redhead, unaware that the lid was heading towards them. One by one, the last four disappeared like the first one. And just as all the doppelgangers had done, they returned to the one who made them in the first place.

“Stupid fucking robotic rabbits,” said Sunset Shimmer under her breath, smiling at the sight of the last 12 copies huddled in a big group.

Sunset threw the pipe at them, resulting in it hitting at least six of the Springtraps in the process. That cut the group in half and made her task a bit easier. Quickly, she ran towards the trash can lid and grabbed it. However, just as she had in her hand, she had to duck down to avoid getting punched by one of the Springtraps. Once she was back on her feet, Sunset threw it like a frisbee and watched as the Springtraps looked at it. It flew towards the last remaining six doppelgangers, tempting them all to reach out and grab it, which they stupidly did. Some of them jumped up and fell onto the others before they dissolved back into equestrian magic. Others just stood there and reached upwards to touch the rim. She struggled not to burst into laughter as the scene played out in front of her. When each of the remaining six doppelgangers touched it, they all disappeared, and the magic floated back to Springtrap.

“Gah! You damned assholes! You weren’t supposed to catch the metal lid,” said Springtrap, angered that the redhead had ruined his plans. “Mark my words Sunset Shimmer, I will be back. And next time, you won’t be able to walk away… alive…”

Sunset Shimmer watched as Springtrap walked back towards the shadows of the woods. She smirked at his words, turning her back to him. “Yeah, sure. And I will become a unicorn in this world.”

Sunset looked around at the near-empty parking lot. She could see that two of the girls were unconscious, and the other two were just barely awake and conscious. However, Rainbow Dash was beginning to stir back into consciousness, coughing as she tried to push herself up. As Sunset met Rainbow Dash’s gaze, she forgot that her hood was still down, leaving her confused when the athlete jumped away from her. The feeling of her tail swishing behind her reminded her that she was exposed and that she just let Rainbow Dash see her face. Her ears flattened against her head as she looked down in shame. Sunset felt her insecurity coming back, and it was making it hard for her to want the girls to see her demonic form. A sound coming from behind her reminded her that she had others to worry about and that they too had seen her.

“Oh, crap…” thought Sunset Shimmer. “This is not how I wanted to tell them. Gah, why did those fucking Springtraps have to yank down my hood?”

The redhead turned around to find Applejack slowly getting up on her feet, despite her wounds and blood loss.

“Sunset, th-thanks for sav-savin’ us. But are you-” Applejack stopped talking when she saw the hurt expression on Sunset’s face.

Sunset Shimmer staggered back as her heartbeat thundered in her ears, her eyes flickering between Rarity and Applejack. Her anxiety was building up, making her feel as though there were a ton of bricks crushing her lungs. The fight had exposed her and left her vulnerable, which she wasn’t okay with. As she struggled for breath, she heard Pinkie Pie moan weakly as she began to regain consciousness. Sunset whipped around, causing her tail to nearly smack Rarity on her cheek in the process. She saw Pinkie Pie move her head to the side, looking over at Rainbow Dash. With all the girls waking up, it sent her into a full-blown panic mode. She didn’t want any of them to see more than they already had seen, not like this.

“I-I gotta go. I can’t stay; I am sorry. Please don’t follow me, please!” begged Sunset Shimmer as she looked over at Fluttershy.

The terror that shone through Fluttershy’s cyan eyes as they stared back at her was enough to push Sunset to her breaking point. She didn’t want to see her friends fear her like they did at the Fall Formal, not after seeing how Wallflower had reacted to her appearance. Plus, she didn’t want to continue hurting them with her lies. For now, the girls were safe from any more attacks, allowing a chance to leave before anyone could stop her. Without waiting for any of the girls to speak, she ran away from them. Sunset threw her hood back up and didn’t bother with tucking her tail back into her jeans. She continued running past Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie and grabbed her messenger bag, which was still sitting where she had left it. Just as she rested her hand on the handlebar of her bike, she saw Fluttershy approach her.

“S-Sunset, please don’t leave,” Fluttershy said in a weak attempt to keep the redhead from running away.

Sunset Shimmer lowered her gaze as she said, “Fluttershy, you saw what I look like now, I can’t stay. I am sorry.”

With those words, Sunset sat down on her bike and put her keys into the ignition. However, just as she was about to rev the engine, Twilight Sparkle walked out of the building. She heard her gasp as she got into the parking lot and saw the sight of the girls lying on the ground injured. She knew it looked bad that she was about to leave the girls injured and not bother to help them. But Twilight didn’t know what they had seen, what lay beneath the fabric of the hoodie that covered her body. And right now, it was too much for her to let her see that in broad daylight and the school’s student parking lot. Sunset’s hand hovered on the handlebar, her desire to leave faltering as the girl she loved walked up to her. She couldn’t find the strength to go and not stay to explain herself to Twilight. So, she just sat there, trying to ignore the thumping of her heart against her rib cage.

“Sunset, where are you going? And what happened here?” asked Twilight Sparkle, stepping in front of Sunset’s bike.

“I’m heading home, Twilight. I can’t stay here anymore, not after what happened,” said Sunset Shimmer, keeping her gaze on her hands.

“And what happened here, Sunset?” asked Twilight Sparkle. “I don’t want to have to ask again. I am getting tired of waiting for you to be honest with me.”

Sunset Shimmer gulped, noticing the stern tone in Twilight’s voice. “I-I…”

Twilight Sparkle looked down and noticed that there was a red and yellow tail resting against Sunset’s leg. That made her walk over to Sunset’s side and grab her wrist. “What the fuck is that, Sunset?”

“That would be my tail, Twilight,” replied Sunset Shimmer, making no point in lying to Twilight. “It’s a part of what I was going to show you later today.”

“Oh…” Twilight Sparkle tightened her grip on Sunset’s wrist, her anger growing as she realized that Sunset was hiding more from her. “And do you plan on telling me the rest of it tonight? And don’t lie. My patience for waiting is getting rather thin now, Sunset.”

Sunset Shimmer nodded, trying to pull her wrist free. “Yes, I am planning on coming to your house later tonight to tell you the rest of it. Now, please let go of my wrist, Twilight. You’re beginning to hurt me.”

“I hope so. If you don’t, I will find out what you’re hiding from the girls. And if that happens, I can't guarantee that I will want to be your friend afterward,” Twilight Sparkle, reluctantly letting go of Sunset’s wrist.

“Sparky, please. Give me a chance before you do that,” said Sunset Shimmer, shifting her gaze so that her eyes looked at Twilight’s angry ones.

“You have until sundown, Sunset. If you don’t tell me by then, I will take it as you choosing to keep your secret from me,” said Twilight Sparkle as she stepped away from the redhead’s bike.

“O-okay…” Sunset Shimmer couldn’t continue talking anymore. Not when her heart felt like it was getting stabbed by Twilight’s cold and harsh words.

Taking a deep breath, Sunset Shimmer kicked up the kickstand of her bike and revved her engine. She took one last look at Twilight before taking off in a blur, leaving only a trail of dust behind her. Her apartment was the only thing on her mind. Even though she knew the girls were going to show up eventually, she needed the familiarity and the safeness of it. Time was something she needed in order to calm down and keep herself from backing out of her plan. If Twilight’s threat wasn’t enough to tell her that it was time she came clean, Sunset knew that the charades were over anyway. The girls had seen some of her new appearance, and it was pointless to keep lying when they would all find out one way or another. Turning a corner, she felt her body shake with fear and anxiousness.

“Sweet Celestia! How am I going to explain this to the girls…?” thought Sunset Shimmer, watching the blur of cars pass her.

*** *** *** ***

Twilight Sparkle stared at the sight of her friends bleeding out on the ground. Once the cloud of dust created by Sunset’s departure settled, she saw the damage the Springtraps had caused. The pavement had several cracks in it from the Springtraps falling onto it. One of the trash cans had a big dent in it from one of them slamming into it, making her cringe at the thought of that happening to the girls. Twilight walked over to the pipe Sunset was using to fight the doppelgangers and picked it up. It had gotten bent in half when one of the Springtraps attempted to grab and destroy it. She shuddered at the realization that the girls were battling something much stronger than they were, even with their magic. Guilt washed over her as she knew that she had left them defenseless against whatever attacked them. Twilight set the pipe back down and dropped her backpack before running over to Applejack, who was barely standing anymore.

“Applejack! What is going on?” asked Twilight Sparkle. “Why is everyone injured? And why did Sunset leave?”

Applejack coughed, causing her to lose her balance. She was about to fall on her knees when she felt Twilight grab her arm. Her hand was close to the wound she had gotten from the glass shard, and it made her want to pull her arm away to avoid it getting hurt. However, Applejack forced herself not to do that, knowing that she needed the help. She looked up and gave her a thankful smile. Her body was trembling from exhaustion and loss of blood, which was making her feel woozy the longer she remained standing. With Twilight’s help, Applejack managed to lean against the tree and give her body some rest.

“We were attacked by… Springtrap and his army of, well, himself,” replied Applejack.

“Springtrap?! He was here?” asked Twilight, trying to help the cowgirl remain on her feet.

“Yeah…” Applejack coughed once, which triggered a coughing fit, preventing her from being able to talk.

Twilight Sparkle looked around and saw there was a bench a few feet from where she and Applejack were standing. She turned to the cowgirl, saying, “AJ, do you think that you can walk to that bench over there if I help you?”

“Maybe,” said Applejack once she managed to slow her coughing fit down. “But I’m going to need you to lean on.”

“Okay, you can lean on me, AJ,” said Twilight Sparkle as Applejack slung her arm over her shoulder.

With Applejack leaning against her, Twilight Sparkle slowly made her way over to the bench. The cowgirl’s added weight made it harder for her to walk, but she did her best to push through it. Just as they got within two feet of the bench, Applejack’s foot got caught on a raised tree root. That caused her to lose her balance, and she pulled Twilight down with her. She felt Twilight’s weight land on top of her as her body slammed into the grassy earth. Applejack groaned as the weight increased the pain on her already sore body.

“Ahh!” screamed Twilight Sparkle and Applejack as they tumbled to the ground.

Twilight Sparkle, being the one on top, pushed herself off of the cowgirl. She rolled to the side and looked at her. “Are you okay, AJ?”

Applejack pushed herself into a sitting position. Her arm was hurting from the sudden impact, but thankfully, the bleeding had stopped. That left her arm and clothes stained with dried blood now. However, a searing pain caught her attention and made her look down at her leg. She saw that the piece of shrapnel that had gotten embedded in her leg was now gone. She figured that it had disappeared when Sunset had defeated all of Springtrap’s doppelgangers. However, that only made her problem worse. Without the piece of metal, her blood was free to flow from the injury. And that presented a problem for the cowgirl, especially in her weakened state.

“Yeah, I am just sore,” replied Applejack. “And now, my leg is bleeding pretty badly.”

Twilight Sparkle moved closer to her friend and examined her injury. She saw that the gashes were deep, but they still managed to avoid any significant arteries and tendons. That was a good sign, but the amount that was pouring out was not. If Applejack continued losing any more blood, she would likely be on the brink of death, assuming that she wasn’t already there. Twilight was growing more concerned by the second as she tried to figure out what to do.

“Applejack, we need to get you to the nurse’s office. You’re bleeding pretty badly, and I don’t know how much blood you’ve already lost. That piece of shrapnel cut into you somewhat deep,” said Twilight Sparkle.

Applejack gulped at the idea of having to walk the whole way to the nurse’s office. Her leg throbbed enough just sitting there on the ground, but she didn’t want to imagine all the pain she would feel walking through the school. That made her shudder at the thought. However, Applejack knew that she was going to have to if she didn’t want her wound to worsen. So, gathering what strength she had, she steeled her resolve.

“Twilight, I don’t think that I can make it.” Applejack struggled to get onto her feet but managed to do it despite the shakiness in her legs. “But I can try.”

Twilight Sparkle smiled as she got off the ground. After she dusted off her skirt, she grabbed the cowgirl’s arm. “I will help you.”

Together, Applejack and Twilight Sparkle walked through the empty halls of CHS. With the halls being void of any students, it was easier for them to get there. Twilight had to move slower than she would typically because Applejack was limping, trying to avoid putting any weight on her bad leg. There was one time where they had to stop because Applejack was becoming lightheaded from the amount of walking. Thankfully, they arrived just as Nurse Redheart was about to close her office.

“Nurse Redheart, we need your help! The rest of my friends are outside and are also injured,” said Twilight Sparkle.

“Oh my!” exclaimed Nurse Redheart as she glanced at Applejack’s wounds. “Let’s get you cleaned up, and I’ll help the rest of your friends.”

Meanwhile, outside the school, Rainbow Dash was beginning to wake up. She blinked as her eyes adjusted to the bright light shining into them. Holding up her good hand to block the sun, she looked around the parking lot. A few feet from her left was Pinkie Pie, who had slipped back into unconsciousness from her wounds. The sound of someone groaning in pain caught her attention and made her glance ahead of her. Squinting, Rainbow Dash saw that it was Rarity, who just barely awake.

“R-Rarity?” said Rainbow Dash, surprised to see her friend awake.

Deciding to help the fashionista, Rainbow Dash lowered her arm and pushed herself up off the ground. As she stood up, her legs began to tremble beneath her. It was clear that the exhaustion of the fight had taken its toll on her. Her whole body felt like she had gotten slammed full force into a brick wall several times. Not to mention that her nose was throbbing, reminding her that it had gotten broken. Rainbow Dash staggered over to where Rarity was lying on the pavement. She kneeled next to her and examined her injuries while being careful with her wrist.

“Rarity, are you okay?” asked Rainbow Dash as she caught sight of the gash in the fashionista’s abdomen.

The piece of metal that had previously gotten embedded in Rarity’s abdomen had also dissipated, same as what happened with Applejack’s wound. And without the metal piece blocking the flow of blood, her injury was beginning to bleed profusely. Her shirt was also soaked in the red liquid and sticking to her skin as a result. That also left her feeling weaker with every minute that passed. Her vision was blurring around the edges as she struggled to remain conscious. Rarity coughed, causing her stomach muscles to contract and push more blood out from her wound.

“No, I am not okay, Rainbow Dash. I am in pain and bleeding. And I am pretty sure I have dislocated my shoulder as well,” replied Rarity, groaning in pain as she tried to keep her injury from getting pulled with every breath she took.

“Okay, I’ll help you get up. We need to get you to the nurse’s office,” said Rainbow Dash, getting up and holding out her good arm.

Rarity grabbed the athlete’s hand, allowing herself to get pulled up off the ground. Being the most athletic of the girls, it wasn’t too surprising that Rainbow Dash had strength similar to Applejack. Of course, the latter was still much stronger than she was. That was no surprise given how often she would work on her farm. Plus, Applejack’s geode enhanced her already impressive strength, whereas Rainbow Dash’s geode gave her the ability of super-speed. Rarity rested her arm on her shoulder, trying to keep from wincing as they started making their way to the school.

Twilight Sparkle let Nurse Redheart walk Applejack into her office as she bolted outside to help the rest of the girls. She made her way past several of the school’s staff, trying not to run into them as she made her way towards the front door. She ran down a few more hallways and turned a few corners before reaching the front doors. Once she had made it to the parking lot, she saw that Rainbow Dash was helping Rarity walk.

“Dash, can you walk Rarity to the nurse’s office?” asked Twilight Sparkle as she ran over to where Pinkie Pie was still lying on the ground.

“Yeah,” replied Rainbow Dash.

“Thanks. I will try to wake up Pinkie Pie and see if she can walk,” said Twilight Sparkle as she knelt next to her friend.

Rainbow Dash nodded and continued walking with Rarity. That left Twilight Sparkle with the task of getting Pinkie Pie up and making sure that she was okay enough to walk. Her wings draped over her shoulders as she rested a hand on her shoulder. Twilight could feel the slight chill to Pinkie Pie’s skin beneath the layer of sweat that had formed from her lying in the sun. She shook her gently, hoping she would wake up.

“Pinkie Pie, please wake up!” shouted Twilight, desperate to make sure that her friend wasn’t dead.

Pinkie Pie was talking to a unicorn in her dream, which oddly enough, looked like Sunset Shimmer. It had a red and yellow mane and tail, styled in a similar fashion to how Sunset’s hair was usually. On its flank was a red and yellow sun that shimmered whenever the sun would hit it. Even its eyes were the same cyan color. By all accounts, it very well could have been Sunset Shimmer, just as a unicorn instead of a teenage girl. Pinkie Pie grabbed a triple-layered donut off her plate, taking a bite of it. Just as she set it back down, she heard a faint voice calling out her name.

“Did you hear that? It sounded like Twilight calling me,” asked Pinkie Pie, looking around her and trying to find the source of the voice.

A red aura surrounded the unicorn’s horn as they lifted their teacup. The amber fur glowed in the sunlight, making them look ethereal. It was enough to make one believe they were real. They took a sip and looked over at Pinkie Pie.

“Um, no. I didn’t hear anything. Sorry, Pinkie Pie,” said the unicorn as it lowered the cup. Its voice sounded precisely like Sunset Shimmer’s voice.

The voice came again. This time, it was louder and closer to where Pinkie Pie and the unicorn were sitting. Pinkie Pie stood up from the table they were sitting at and walked away from the unicorn. She didn’t hear them get up and follow her. However, that didn’t matter to Pinkie Pie as she tried to find where the voice was coming from.

“Twilight… is that you?” asked Pinkie Pie, seeing a bright white glowing orb appearing in front of her.

The orb grew bigger and brighter the closer that it got to Pinkie Pie. Once it was just a few feet away from her, a dark shadow began to appear in it. The shadow seemed to take on the shape of her friend, Twilight Sparkle. Slowly, colors began to appear as her body got enveloped in the orb. Pinkie Pie felt a feeling of warmth all over her body as she squinted from the brightness of the orb’s glowing light. Finally, after what felt like a few minutes had passed, Pinkie Pie saw a blurry version of Twilight standing over her. She blinked, trying to clear away the blurriness.

“Tw-Twilight?” asked Pinkie Pie, her throat feeling dry and raw as she spoke. “Wh-what happened?”

Twilight Sparkle sighed with relief, her wings unfurling as her body relaxed. Her tail flicked behind her as in response to her growing calmness. As she looked down at what happened to Pinkie Pie's abdomen, she saw six lacerations running down towards her skirt. They were more severe than Applejack’s injuries were, and it was clear that they had gotten intentionally deepened by the Springtraps who attacked her. However, Twilight’s breath hitched in her throat as she saw the three on the party girl’s forehead. She wasn’t sure how she had missed them in the first place, but she could see they were still fresh. And there was some blood pouring out from them and dribbling down the side of her head.

“The rest of the girls are in the nurse’s office, but Pinkie Pie… you’re going to need to get some serious stitches,” said Twilight Sparkle, meeting Pinkie Pie’s worried filled eyes.

“Oh, is it that bad?” asked Pinkie Pie, her tone becoming serious.

“Yeah, Pinkie, it is,” Twilight Sparkle replied, her voice lowering as she struggled to look at her paling friend. It was clear that Pinkie Pie had lost a lot of blood already.

As Fluttershy approached Twilight Sparkle, she heard a series of footsteps. She turned around to see Nurse Redheart running towards her. She stepped aside and allowed Nurse Redheart to get to Twilight first. She was happy to stay back, especially since she was still recovering from the sight of watching the girls getting beat up. And seeing Pinkie Pie in pain wasn’t something that Fluttershy wanted to do, even if she wanted to support her. It was just too much for her to bear seeing after the surprise attack by Springtrap.

Nurse Redheart knelt next to Twilight Sparkle and Pinkie Pie, trying to avoid stepping in coagulated blood surrounding her. She saw the injuries that Pinkie Pie had suffered. And due to the severity of them, she decided it was best that she went to Canterlot General. There was nothing she could do temporarily to ease the risk of infection, not with what basic medical supplies she had. Nurse Redheart pulled out her phone and dialed 911.

“Yes, I need an ambulance here at CHS. I have a student who is severely injured,” said Nurse Redheart as she spoke to the phone operator.

Twilight Sparkle saw the rest of the girls slowly join Fluttershy in standing next to her. They all looked weary and tired. The fight that they had endured combined with their wounds left them exhausted. And she was amazed that most of them were able to remain awake. Twilight could see that Nurse Redheart had placed some butterfly bandages on Applejack and Rarity’s injuries. However, she could see that it was just a temporary fix until they could get to a hospital.

“Alright. When will the ambulance come by? 5-10 minutes? Okay, thanks,” said Nurse Redheart before she hung up the phone.

Twilight saw that Pinkie Pie was looking at the rest of the girls. She furrowed her eyebrows as she looked between her and the girls. There was a visible look of confusion on both Twilight and Pinkie Pie’s face. And a heavy silence fell on all of them, making the sounds of birds chirping happily in their nests sound like the only noise in the world. However, Twilight was the first to break the silence.

“What’s wrong, Pinkie Pie?” asked Twilight Sparkle.

“I-I thought I heard Sunset’s voice earlier. Where is she, Twilight?” asked Pinkie Pie, sounding sad and disappointed.

Twilight Sparkle cringed as she heard Pinkie Pie mention Sunset’s name. After what happened between them, she didn’t want to talk about her. Besides, she was beginning to have some doubts about the threat she made to her. Twilight knew that it went against what she said to her on Thursday. However, her patience was running low, and knowing that Sunset was keeping something from her wasn’t making it any easier for her. She looked at Pinkie Pie, hearing the approaching sounds of the ambulance.

“Sunset was here, but then she left after she finished saving you. She probably went home, Pinkie,” replied Twilight Sparkle, not wanting to talk about Sunset Shimmer anymore.

Just as Twilight Sparkle finished speaking, the ambulance pulled up. The sirens had gotten turned off, and the EMTs jumped out of the ambulance. In a matter of seconds, the girls were swarmed by EMTs as they got to Pinkie Pie. Bright lights were flashing around them as they tried to back away. Twilight, in the chaos of them trying to treat Pinkie Pie quickly, got knocked onto the pavement. She managed to get back on her feet, only to get met with the shocked faces of the EMTs.

“Hehe, hi,” said Twilight Sparkle, nervously waving at the EMTs.

The EMTs, having already loaded Pinkie Pie onto a stretcher, lifted her off the hot pavement. Together, they all walked her over to the back of the ambulance. Two of the EMTs walked back to the front cab of the ambulance and got in. That left two others to get Pinkie Pie situated in the back of it. And when that had gotten done, one of the two EMTs walked over to the girls.

“Are you all her friends?” asked the EMT.

“Yes, we’re all her friends,” replied Twilight Sparkle.

“So, would one of you like to come with us? It could help keep your friend calm,” asked the EMT, seemingly trying to avoid talking to Twilight.

“I’ll go with her,” said Twilight Sparkle, volunteering herself as the girls, aside from Fluttershy, were exhausted and needed medical attention themselves.

“Uh… okay,” said the EMT, looking at Twilight’s wings. “Just, um, watch the wings, please.”

“I will,” Twilight Sparkle said, pulling her wings closer to her body.

Alongside the EMT, Twilight Sparkle got into the back of the ambulance. As the two doors were closed, she stole one last glance at the girls. They all waved at her, and she waved back as the ambulance pulled out of the parking lot. She sighed and leaned back against the metal wall behind her. Heading to a crowded place with doctors, nurses, and many patients wasn't something Twilight was going to like at all. However, for Pinkie Pie’s sake, she was willing to push past her fears and worries.

*** *** *** ***

Nurse Redheart turned to the girls and said, “You all should go home and get changed. And Rarity and Applejack?”

Rarity looked at Nurse Redheart as she heard her name getting called. Her wounds still hurt from having the rubbing alcohol dabbing into them. Thankfully, after her shoulder got popped back into the socket, it stopped hurting as much. Although, having it popped back in was a bit more painful than she expected. Rarity was sore from going through that and leaning against Applejack for some support. She was still struggling not to double over in pain and trying to stay awake. And being close to her was helping her fight against the pain.

“You girls should go to the hospital too. Those butterfly bandages are just temporary,” said Nurse Redheart.

“Okay, once we change out of ruined clothes, we’ll head over to Canterlot General,” replied Rarity, holding the cowgirl’s hand.

“Good. Now, off you go. Your parents will want to know why you were late,” said Nurse Redheart, walking towards her office to lock up.

After that, the girls all walked to Fluttershy’s van, with her deciding to give them a ride home. As Fluttershy unlocked her van, Rainbow Dash climbed into the passenger seat. She helped Applejack and Rarity into the back before getting into the driver’s seat. As she closed her door, she realized that Rarity was quiet, which was unusual for her.

“Are you okay, Rare?” asked Applejack as she buckled herself in.

Rarity tried to keep herself from coughing as she spoke. “I am… ehm, barely. I am just not looking forward to getting stitches. I am worried that they’ll leave… scars. And that I’ll no longer be perfect in your eyes…”

Applejack looked at her girlfriend, her green eyes clouded with worry. It broke her heart to see her thinking that she wouldn’t be perfect with a scar. Nothing would change how she felt about her, not even the ugliest of scars. She saw Rarity for the heart and generosity that emanated off of her. And seeing her worrying that she wouldn’t be good enough if her physical appearance got altered a bit, it only made her see why she loved Rarity and why she chose her. Rarity was just too precious for this world, though she was feisty when she needed to be. And that was one of many things that Applejack admired about her. Slowly, she moved her hand and rested it over Rarity’s shaking one.

“And if the stitches do leave scars, I will love them and you. And you’ll still be beautiful to me,” said Applejack, squeezing Rarity’s hand in response.

Rarity squeezed Applejack’s hand as she heard what she said. She couldn’t speak, not when she knew her words would fail to express her gratitude. How lucky was she to have such an amazing girlfriend to call her own? To have someone who would stand by her through thick and thin? That wouldn’t mind if she didn’t look like a model from a magazine? Very lucky. Rarity knew that for sure and cherished how lucky she was to have such a girlfriend. Turning to the cowgirl, she pulled her in for a quick kiss.

“I couldn’t have asked for a better girlfriend,” said Rarity, giving Applejack a smile despite the pain she was feeling.

“Neither could I,” Applejack said, giving Rarity a half-smile as she admired her beautiful blue eyes.

Just as Applejack finished talking, Fluttershy buckled her seatbelt and put the keys into her ignition. “Is everyone ready to head home?”

“Yeah, we are,” said Applejack. “I’ll have Big Mac come pick up my pickup truck.”

“Okay,” said Fluttershy, turning keys and making the engine roar to life.

Fluttershy placed her hands at the nine and three positions and made sure to check her mirror a couple of times. Satisfied that she had checked everything off her safe driving checklist, she pulled out of her parking space, turning the steering wheel to her left. She made sure that no one was behind her or in front of her before she began to make her way out of the student parking lot. The girls were exhausted, and the thought of going home was a comforting one.

*** *** *** ***

At the hospital, Twilight Sparkle was sitting in a chair next to Pinkie Pie’s bed. She watched as a nurse walked in and grabbed a plastic-wrapped syringe from a drawer nearby. As the package crinkled, she cringed at the sound. That sound meant one thing; a needle was about to appear. Twilight had an intense fear of needles because she hated the pain that followed after every shot. Just looking at one and she would go pale, like a ghostly pale and nearly faint in the process. One time when she had to get a flu shot with Sunset, she fainted afterward because the needle had gotten painfully jabbed into her arm. Thankfully, the redhead had managed to catch her before she hit the floor and injured herself. Twilight looked down at her hands, pushing the memory aside and trying to focus on Pinkie Pie.

“Keep yourself calm, Twilight. You’re here to support Pinkie Pie,” thought Twilight Sparkle as she tried to keep herself from freaking out.

As the nurse pulled out the needle and syringe, Twilight’s wings wrapped themselves around her defensively before she drew them back behind her. When the nurse flicked the needle tip, she felt her throat close up. Her breathing became sharp and quick as her fear threatened to take control. She looked over at Pinkie Pie, who was busy drifting in and out of sleep. Seeing her looking somewhat relaxed calmed her down a little, but that calmness had immediately gotten erased as she saw the needle getting pushed into her abdomen. That sight was enough to make her body go numb. Twilight looked away from the sight, squeezing her eyes closed. A wave of nausea passed over, but she managed to fight against it. After a few moments had passed, she dared to look back and saw the nurse tossing away the used needle into the orange biohazard bin.

“Miss Pie, that was a numbing agent. You should start to feel it working soon, but I will warn you, it’s going to hurt when it does,” said the nurse, making sure that Pinkie Pie was alert before leaving the room.

“Okay,” mumbled Pinkie Pie as she struggled to stay awake.

While Pinkie Pie was lying on the bed, she began to feel a slight burning sensation. She groaned a little as it slowly crept up in intensity. The more she continued to breathe, the more intense the burning starting to become. After just a few minutes, it felt like there was a fire dancing inside her veins. It was almost enough to make Pinkie Pie want to rip her skin off to relieve the pain. However, she fought the urge because she had endured enough for the day. A few moans slipped past her lips as she tried to cope with immense pain in her abdomen. When Pinkie Pie felt a hand grip her own, she turned her head to the right. There, standing next to her bed, was Twilight Sparkle.

“Twilight, are the rest of the girls going to be here soon?” asked Pinkie Pie, her voice strained as she endured the pain of the numbing agent.

“Yes, Pinkie. They should be here soon. I have asked Fluttershy to grab some clean clothes for you as well,” replied Twilight Sparkle, giving Pinkie Pie’s hand a gentle squeeze.

The nurse returned with a small white package in her hands as well as a bottle of some sort of brownish liquid. She set the two down on the drawer as she grabbed a pair of gloves from the box near the bed. The snap of the gloves against her skin made Twilight jump and nearly let go of Pinkie Pie’s hand. However, she quickly regained her composure and forced herself to keep calm.

“Okay, the numbing agent should have kicked in now. So, now I am going to sterilize the area around the wound, alright?” said the nurse as she grabbed the bottle sitting on the drawer next to the bed.

The party lover, still feeling the burning sensation of the numbing agent, prepared herself for the liquid to get poured onto her skin. As she took her third deep breath, she felt the cold liquid touch her abdomen. It relieved some of the heat she felt, but it didn’t last for very long. The heat radiating off her skin evaporated the coldness of the disinfectant. Pinkie Pie tried her best not to flinch when she felt the cotton swab go near the edges of her injuries. Eventually, the nurse finished wiping the iodine on her stomach.

Twilight Sparkle, who was holding Pinkie Pie’s hand, had to let go as she saw the nurse pulling out the needle that was going to be for the stitches. She staggered back to the chair she was initially sitting in. Her heart was thundering in her ears as she tried not to panic. Between what happened with Sunset and the stress of dealing with her lies, Twilight was starting to get a massive headache. And the realization that she was going to watch her friend get stitches wasn’t making it any better. Looking up, she saw Pinkie Pie’s worried expression staring back at her.

“S-sorry, Pinkie. I just have a big fear of needles, but I am still here for you. Just from a distance for now,” said Twilight Sparkle, struggling not to pay attention to the nurse, who was beginning to thread the needle through Pinkie Pie’s skin.

“It’s alright, Twilight. I am just happy that you’re here with me,” replied Pinkie Pie, trying not to move her stomach too much.

After a half-hour passed, all the stitches for Pinkie Pie’s lacerations had gotten finished. When the nurse threw away the box and gloves, the rest of the girls, minus Rarity, who had to get some nylon stitches for her wound, walked into the room. Each of the girls looked a bit better now that they had clean clothes on, and their wounds had gotten attended to. They all gathered around Pinkie Pie and her bed, leaving Twilight Sparkle unable to get out of her chair. Not that she wanted to stand at the moment anyway. The nurse came back, and the girls stepped back, allowing her access to Pinkie Pie.

“Now, I am going to put some gauze over your stitches. Come back in five days to have your blue stitches removed. The black ones will dissolve on their own within a week,” the nurse said as she grabbed some gauze and tape.

As the nurse set to work applying the gauze, Fluttershy rubbed Pinkie Pie’s shoulder, saying, “I am so glad to see that you’re alright, Pinkie. I am sorry that I didn’t do anything to help you.”

Pinkie Pie gave the animal lover a weak smile. “It’s okay, Fluttershy. You did your best, and you brought Sunset to help us. That’s more than enough.”

“I am glad you’re alright as well,” said Twilight Sparkle, smiling at Pinkie Pie.

“How are you feelin’, sugarcube?” asked Applejack, taking off her hat.

“A bit better. I should be as good as a triple chocolate churro in a week,” replied Pinkie Pie, her usually bubbly demeanor coming back.

That little joke made all the girls chuckle along with Pinkie Pie. Rarity, who came back after getting her stitches, joined in the laughter. It was nice to laugh after all the horror and pain they had gone through earlier. The sound made them feel better and eased some of the emotional stress they were all dealing with that day. Yet, there was only one thing or rather one person missing; Sunset Shimmer. She was at home, not here at the hospital with them, supporting Pinkie Pie. Rarity looked around at the girls and saw that they were also aware of her missing presence. They all shared worried glances as Sunset crossed their minds.

“Do you think Sunset is okay?” asked Rarity, voicing the question they were all thinking.

The girls all looked down, not sure how to answer the question. None of them understood why Sunset had run off after saving them. Sure, she had been acting weird for the last couple of days, but they all knew the reason why. It was evident that something happened on Thursday, and they knew it had something to do with Demon Shimmer. Most of them knew that she was hiding her altered appearance and that she resembled her demonic form somewhat. Sunset’s hood got yanked down, which allowed them to see some of the changes, and that’s when Rarity realized why she ran off. Yet, she never thought that it would be the reason why she would leave. But it became fairly apparent as she thought about what happened during the fight.

“I don’t know, but we are heading over to Sunset’s apartment when Pinkie finishes up here. I wanna know why she would run away and leave her friends to die,” said Rainbow Dash, carefully crossing her arms.

“Are you sure that’s a good idea? If Sunset ran off and didn’t want us to follow her, I don’t think she wants us to show up at her house,” said Fluttershy, looking at Rainbow Dash. “Wouldn’t it only make her not want to tell us even more?”

“Fluttershy’s got a point, Dash. How is headin’ over to Sunset’s apartment goin’ to solve the problem?” asked Applejack. “I want the truth as much as the next person, but I don’t want to force Sunset to talk before she is ready to tell us.”

Rainbow Dash scoffed. “Sunset lied to us for almost a week and left us without bothering to see if we were okay. I think she owes us some answers for why she left and why she lied to us.”

“You’re right, Dash. Sunset does need to tell us the truth, but let’s do it gently. She seemed panicked and scared,” Pinkie Pie said, bringing the girls' attention to her.

“I think you girls should head over to Sunset’s apartment,” said Twilight Sparkle. “I gave her an ultimatum to come over to my house and tell me the truth, or I will get the truth from you. And I told her if that were to happen, that I would likely not be her friend anymore.”

The room fell silent as Twilight Sparkle revealed the choice she forced upon Sunset Shimmer. It seemed no one was expecting her to do something like that. Everyone looked down, almost acknowledging that it was a tough choice and a drastic measure to take. Yet, no one said anything against it, knowing that Sunset’s decision to lie had put Twilight into the spot where she had to make such a call. There was an overwhelming silence in the room as a result of the growing tension between the girls. It wasn’t until the nurse came back with several butterfly bandages in hand that the heavy silence broke.

“Miss Pie, I will put these butterfly bandages on your forehead, and that should allow those lacerations to heal, okay?” asked the nurse as she placed the first of the several butterfly bandages onto Pinkie Pie’s injury.

“Okay,” replied Pinkie Pie, staying as still as possible.

The nurse turned to the girls, saying, “I am going to contact your parents. They’ll need to know why you were here. And then I’ll keep you for an overnight observation.”

Twilight Sparkle looked at her friends, sharing worried glances. Quickly, she pulled out her phone and found Ms. Coral’s number. She was glad that her teacher had given her a number to call in case she needed anything. It made her feel better, knowing that she had someone she could talk to while she let her mother and father adjust to her new situation.

“Uh, here’s our teacher’s phone number. Our parents are busy at the moment,” said Twilight Sparkle.

The nurse took the phone from Twilight and dialed the number.

“Hello, this is Ms. Coral,” said the voice on the other end. “Who is this?”

“Hi, I am Hannah, a nurse at Canterlot General. I was told by one of your students to contact you as it seems the girls’ parents are busy,” replied Hannah.

Sensing that Twilight didn’t want her or the girls’ to get in trouble for whatever happened after she left the school, Ms. Coral said, “Oh, yes. Their parents are busy at their jobs right now and won’t be able to come and discharge them. But I will take care of contacting them and letting them know what’s been happening.”

“Alright, then I will discharge the girls myself,” said Hannah before she hung up and handed the phone back to Twilight Sparkle.

Taking her phone back, Twilight Sparkle sighed with relief. Once the nurse had finished putting the bandages onto Pinkie Pie’s forehead, she stood up from the chair. She was feeling better now that all the needles had gotten thrown away and were no longer in her sight. Unfortunately, her relief got hindered by the fact that she would face whatever Sunset chose to do. If she didn’t show up, she knew that her heart was going to shatter. A part hoped that it wouldn’t happen so she would get spared the pain. Yet, if she did show, Twilight wasn’t too sure how she would take whatever it was that Sunset was hiding from her. As she made her way to the door, she turned to the girls.

“While you girls head over to Sunset’s place, I’m going to head home and clean up,” said Twilight Sparkle, opening the door as she spoke.

“Okay, Twi. We’ll let you know what’s up with Sunset when we get a chance to,” said Rainbow Dash as Twilight left the room.

Rarity turned to Pinkie Pie, asking, “Are you ready to leave, dear?”

“Yes, I am Rarity,” replied Pinkie Pie, sitting slowly, so her stitches didn’t get ripped apart.

*** *** *** ***

Sunset Shimmer, after parking her bike, ran up the stairs leading into her apartment. When she opened the door, she didn’t bother to turn on the light. She preferred the darkness as it could hide what she didn’t want to see or acknowledge. Tossing her keys and helmet aside, she bolted up the stairs to where her bed was sitting. As she saw her mirror that was covered by a spare red blanket that she had, she froze in front of it. The small amount of dimming sunlight that shone through her window illuminated Sunset’s room and made her feel lonely. A voice in the back of her head told her that the darkness and lack of friends was something she would have to get used to. Sunset’s eyes watered as it dawned on her that tonight would likely be the end of her friendship with Twilight and the girls.

As Sunset stood there in front of her mirror in the darkness, she felt a mixture of guilt and sadness wash over her. She knew that the girls were going to want her to reveal everything to them. Walking over to her mirror, she lifted the blanket off of it and took a deep breath, trying to calm the hurt she was feeling. Sunset left her hoodie on as well as her gloves, but she lowered her hood and sunglasses. Her reflection showed that it did little to make her seem like her usual self. After all, her red skin, fangs, pointy ears, and tail weren’t normal, not for this world at least. Meeting her gaze, her eyes showed that beneath the Demon Shimmer appearance, she was still the same Sunset Shimmer the girls had always known. Yet, it wouldn’t matter if Sunset couldn’t make them see it.

“The girls, I lied to them. That won’t get easily forgiven if they decide to forgive me for it,” thought Sunset Shimmer, her strength to look at herself slowly ebbing away.

The redhead lowered the blanket over the mirror once more before making her way to her pet gecko’s tank. Ray was a small yellow leopard gecko whose body had black spots all over. Sunset had adopted him with Fluttershy’s help a few years ago when the animal shelter was doing a photo shoot for a charity calendar. He was sitting on his little rock, sleeping away peacefully. He looked so adorable that it made her feel better just to see him looking happy. She removed the top of his enclosure and watched him as he slowly opened his eyes and yawned.

“Aw, you are so adorable, my little ray of sunshine,” said Sunset Shimmer, smiling as she saw Ray walk towards her. “Do you want to come out for a little bit?”

Ray nodded and smiled at her as he climbed back on top of his rock.

Sunset Shimmer placed her hand next to him, allowing him to walk onto it. “I am so glad I chose you for my pet.”

Ray nuzzled against her palm, seemingly unaware that she was wearing gloves. He looked up at Sunset and noticed the tears running down her cheek. That prompted him to climb her sleeve and onto her shoulder. He used one of his front feet to wipe off a tear that was falling towards him. Ray didn’t like to see his owner look so sad and depressed, not when she had given him so much happiness in return. His eyes were wide with concern as he sat back down on her shoulder and waited for her to explain why she was sad.

“Thanks, Ray. I wish you could do more, but this is something I knew was coming since Thursday,” said Sunset Shimmer, giving him a little pat on his back.

Ray barked at Sunset and walked down to her hand as she lifted him to her eye level.

“I know, I know. You are doing all you can, and I am happy about that.” Sunset chuckled weakly as Ray tried to make a funny face in front of her. “Okay, that helped a little bit.”

Just as Ray finished making some funny poses, Sunset Shimmer heard a series of knocks on her door. Her wings stretched inside of the hoodie as her tail flickered behind her, nearly knocking her lamp over. She quickly put him back in his enclosure and placed the top back on before throwing her hood back over her head. Making her way down the stairs, she put on her sunglasses. Sunset figured it was best not to scare the girls right away. As it was, they were probably not going to like what they saw and scold her for lying to them. However, she knew that it was time she came clean about her transformation on Thursday. With trembling hands, she twisted the doorknob and opened the door.

Applejack, who was standing in front of the girls, saw the door slowly creak open. The cold fall air nipped at her cheeks and gave them a redness due to the long exposure. Her truck was sitting behind Sunset’s bike, along with Rainbow Dash’s bike next to it. Fluttershy and Rarity had to park their vehicles next to the sidewalk as there was no more room. The sun was still in the sky but was ever so slowly getting lower as time passed. As she looked into Sunset’s apartment, she saw Sunset standing in the doorway. Light from the setting sun illuminated the apartment and allowed Applejack to make out most of the apartment.

“Sunset? Are you alright?” asked Applejack.

“Y-yeah, I am okay, Applejack.” Sunset struggled to speak as her throat seemed to tighten with each word.

“Why are all your lights off?” asked Applejack, stepping past Sunset as she walked into her apartment. “Are you tryin’ to hide somethin’?”

Sunset Shimmer froze, her hands trembling even more. “Great, she already knows…”

“I-I just wanted to be in the dark for a bit,” lied Sunset Shimmer, hoping to avoid the inevitable conversation.

“Darling, could you please turn on a light for us? It’s hard to see much in here,” asked Rarity, struggling to see Applejack in the dimly lit living room.

“Yeah,” said Sunset, taking a deep breath as she forced her feet to move towards the light switch.

As Rarity walked in, the rest of the girls followed after her. They all gathered together, unsure of where everything was in the dim lighting. Fluttershy was gripping Pinkie Pie’s arm tightly as her eyes darted around the room. She had a fear of the dark thanks to a prank Rainbow Dash had pulled on her when they were little. And it didn’t help that Rainbow Dash hailed it as her most awesome prank ever. The sound of someone moving around made Fluttershy squeal in surprise. However, Rainbow Dash just stood a few feet from where Applejack was standing in the living room.

Sunset Shimmer walked over to the wall where her light switch was situated. With a quick flick of her finger, the lights turned on and lit up her apartment. She squinted for a few seconds as her eyes adjusted to the sudden brightness. After a little while, she was able to open both of her eyes again. The sunglasses she was wearing helped to keep the intensity of light down and allowed her to adjust a bit quicker. Sunset kept her back turned to the girls, hiding her face. Now that the lights were on, they would be able to see what was beneath the hood. And right now, she wasn’t ready to show them what her face looked like, even if she knew it would happen eventually.

When the lights came on, all the girls turned to Sunset, who was standing by the wall. She was still wearing the school hoodie, but it had gotten covered in grease from the fight with the Springtraps. There was also a noticeable bulge in the back of her hoodie, similar to what Twilight Sparkle had when she hid her wings using the same method. That told them that Sunset had wings as well. However, there was one thing that captured the girls’ attention; the red and yellow tail which twitched as they all stared at it. It was long, almost reaching down to her knees. While it looked similar to her tail extension that she got every time they ponied up, the coloration of it was different. Sunset’s tail was yellow right where it connected with her body and at the end of it, while the middle of it was red.

Applejack walked over to Sunset Shimmer and placed her hand on the redhead’s shoulder. As she did that, she could feel the claw at the end of her wing jabbing at her through the fabric. It was almost enough to make Applejack pull her hand away. Her leg throbbed, reminding her that it was still injured. But she ignored it and focused on finding out what was going on with Sunset. That was more important than the aching in her leg, for the time being anyway.

“Sugarcube… what happened during the fight at the school, did the girls and I see…” Applejack tried to continue, but she felt Sunset’s shoulder tense, making her stop.

Sunset Shimmer yanked her shoulder free from the cowgirl’s grip. She moved further away from the girls, her shoulders slumping downward as she tried to keep herself from giving in to her fear. After a quick debate in her head about whether she should face the girls, she chose to turn around and meet their worried gazes slowly. As Sunset did that, she saw the bandages covering their injuries. That made her gasp softly as she realized that she had run off, leaving them injured and bleeding in the school parking lot. If she wasn’t already feeling bad enough, that only added to her guilt. But she pushed it to the back of her mind; she had more significant concerns at the moment. One of them was that the girls had seen her appearance and now she had to confess her secret.

“Yes, you girls did see that. My appearance… it was altered so that I am back to looking like I did at the Fall Formal.” Sunset Shimmer grabbed her hood in one and her sunglasses in another. Still shaking from the fear of their reaction, she removed them. “So, now I look like Demon Shimmer again,”

Rarity gasped, covering her mouth as Sunset Shimmer looked down. Her blue eyes moved rapidly as she took in her red skin and the other changes. To say it was a shock would have been an understatement. All the alterations that had happened were drastic, making Rarity feel bad for her. The reason why Sunset had kept it from them and was trying to keep them from seeing what occurred was evident. She remembered the pain Twilight endured during her transformation and shuddered at the thought of what Sunset would’ve had to go through for hers. That only made her sick to her stomach for the second time that day.

“Oh my, that is…” Rarity didn’t continue her statement because she was at a loss for words.

Hearing what the fashionista said, Sunset looked up at the girls. Her heart nearly jumped up to her throat as she saw the fearful expressions of some of the girls. She felt her eyes burn as tears threatened to fall again. It felt like a thousand knives were slicing through her skin all at once. Although she didn’t like it, she understood why they did fear her. Sunset remembered how she felt when Twilight became Midnight Sparkle in appearance. So, she didn’t blame them for fearing her because of her demonic look. That was understandable, especially given what she did to them at the Fall Formal. Sunset expected them to be angry at her, maybe even fear her. But knowing about it was one thing; seeing it right in front of her was another.

Rarity tried to maintain her composure for Sunset’s sake. Yet, that was proving to be a bit challenging as she looked at her. One day, the redhead looked like her usual self, and the next, she was back to looking like her demonic self. Seeing that made her flashback to the Fall Formal and the first time she saw Demon Shimmer. A shiver ran down her spine as she recalled the way Sunset had acted that night. Rarity let her eyes linger on her fangs before she met her gaze again. When she met Sunset’s eyes and took a few steps closer, she saw her flinch away from her, revealing that she had let shock and fear show. That made her feel even worse, knowing that she had just added to her emotional torment.

“Sunset, I am sorry, but…” Seeing the hurt look on the redhead’s face, Rarity decided to stop.

Fluttershy, on the other hand, stepped further away from the redhead. She saw her fangs in full view when she tried to give her a small smile, which made her jump and shrink away even more. That was enough to make her look away, no longer wanting to see Sunset’s face anymore. Now that Fluttershy had seen the red skin, pointy ears, and tail, it told her that she definitely was not a blood-sucking vampire. However, that confirmation did very little to quell her rising fear. And when she heard a stifled sob come from Sunset, she jumped behind Pinkie Pie. Fluttershy didn’t want to hurt her, but right now, she wasn’t able to see her as her friend. Not with her demonic appearance on full display in front of her.

“Fluttershy, please. I won’t hurt you,” said Sunset Shimmer, watching as Fluttershy shrunk away from her.

Seeing that reaction made Sunset realize that the girls, despite their attempts at concealing it, were genuinely afraid of her. They were hesitant to believe that she was still their friend. Even after she had saved them, they were reluctant to trust her. She gripped the side of her arm, looking away from their fearful gazes. The very thing Sunset feared would happen if she told them, happened. And it hurt to see them act that way. Unfortunately, she knew that there was nothing she could do to help ease their fears. Not when she looked like Demon Shimmer, and the girls weren’t going to believe anything she would say.

The cowgirl, seeing her girlfriend trying to step closer to Sunset Shimmer, walked in front of her. She glared at her, angry that she had lied to them about what happened to her. And considering that Twilight had gone through something similar barely a week ago, it made the lies even more insulting. As Twilight crossed her mind, Applejack wondered why Sunset hadn’t decided to come forward sooner. She had to know that Twilight felt very alone, being the only one of the girls that had endured a forced magical transformation that turned her evil. It wasn’t like she had hidden the fact that she felt no one understood what she had gone through at the Friendship Games. So, why did she hide something that Twilight and the rest of them could have helped her with?

“Did you tell Twilight about your transformation at the Fall Formal?” asked Applejack.

Sunset Shimmer bit her lip momentarily before saying, “I told her that I had gone through the same kind of transformation. I didn’t tell her more than that because we were at the party Pinkie Pie had thrown a few days ago.”

Applejack’s body tensed up as Sunset admitted that she had told Twilight some of the truth, but not all of it. Her hands balled into fists as she struggled to contain her growing rage. There was one pet peeve that got to her the most, and that was when anyone wasn’t being honest. She valued honesty when it came to friendships and any relationship. It was hard enough when she complied with Sunset’s willingness not to tell Twilight the truth. Applejack thought it was just going to last for a month at most, not a whole year. And watching Sunset reluctantly tell Twilight some of the truth was beginning to get to her. Her hands shook as she forced herself to remain still and not punch her.

Sunset noticed that Applejack’s hands were trembling and resting at her sides. She looked at the cowgirl, and their eyes met for a brief moment. What she saw in them scared her and made her heart race. There was anger in them, making the green in her eyes darken as it clouded over them. That was something she had only seen in Applejack’s eyes back when she was the bully of CHS. It made her feel like a lamb that was in front of a malicious lion that had starved for weeks on end. And having it directed at her only made her wish she could disappear and not have to see it anymore.

“Applejack, I-”

“Don’t try to make any excuses for why you didn’t tell Twilight the whole truth that night, Demon Shimmer,” said Applejack, stopping Sunset from saying anything further. “I don’t want to hear it.”

Pinkie Pie, with Fluttershy still hiding behind her, stood still. She didn’t say anything, which was unlike her, but her eyes met Sunset’s gaze. She noticed the pain and fear that shone in her eyes as she looked at her. That made Pinkie Pie feel bad for Sunset, knowing that it must’ve been hard for her to show them what she looked like and risk their rejections. Remembering what happened with Twilight, she could see that Sunset was very insecure about her appearance. She also noticed that the usual cyan color in her eyes had gotten dimmed a bit, almost as if she was wearing colored contacts. Pinkie Pie narrowed her eyes in suspicion as she put her hands on her hips.

“Did something happen to Sunset’s eyes? Or am I just imagining things?” thought Pinkie Pie, trying to figure out what was going on.

Meanwhile, Rainbow Dash sped over to Sunset, making her jump back from the sudden intrusion of personal space. She used super-speed and did a few circles around her. Keeping her distance while she did, she could see that Sunset was hiding what was presumably her wings underneath the baggy hoodie. Rainbow Dash looked at her eyes, wanting to see if anything had changed. And to her surprise, they appeared to look like they usually would. However, upon closer inspection, she noticed the cyan in her irises was darker than usual. Even the whites of her eyes seemed to be a bit off like contacts were hiding whatever happened. Rainbow Dash’s curiosity piqued as she tried to make out whether Sunset was wearing contacts or not. Figuring that she would ask about that later, she did one last lap around her. Once she decided she had seen enough, she sped over to the couch.

The redhead closed her eyes as her rainbow-haired friend sped around her. She could feel her hair getting blown around by the breeze caused by her running in circles. Silently, she waited until she felt the wind stop before she slowly opened her eyes. Her heart sank when she saw the distrustful, and fear-filled looks that she was still getting. The part of her that hoped what she was seeing was a dream recoiled as reality hit her again. It was painfully evident that the girls saw her as either a threat or someone who isn’t their friend anymore. Sunset gulped as she felt her panic rise with each second that passed in the deafening silence.

“Wow, those are some drastic changes, Demon Shimmer,” said Rainbow Dash, not wanting to acknowledge that Sunset might still be her friend.

Rarity, annoyed by hearing another of her friends call Sunset Shimmer, said, “Rainbow Dash! Please, stop calling Sunset that. She is still our friend.”

“Yeah, I don’t think so. If she were still Sunset, she wouldn’t have lied to us,” replied Rainbow Dash, looking at Rarity. “And I told her that I wouldn't say anything to Twilight as long as she told her first.”

“Wait, you know that Sunset had transformed before now?” asked Applejack, her attention turning to the athlete. “When did you find out?”

Rainbow Dash nodded. “I found out at Pinkie Pie’s party when Sunset let her guard down, and I saw her fangs.”

“Wait a minute, you’ve known about this for almost an entire week? And you didn’t think to say anything to us?” asked Rarity, trying to keep Applejack calm.

“Yeah. I figured Sunset would tell the rest of you when she told Twilight. Though, considering that she hasn’t told Twilight yet, I may do it myself,” Rainbow Dash said, not caring that she would go back on a promise she made.

“No, you can’t, Dash! Twilight will hate me if I don’t do it myself,” shouted Sunset Shimmer, bringing the attention back to her. “She’s already told me that I have until sundown today before she comes to you, girls.”

“We know that, Demon Shimmer. Twilight told us that she gave you an ultimatum before we came here,” replied Rainbow Dash, her voice cold. “I think that it was a good choice on her part.”

Hearing Rainbow Dash call her Demon Shimmer made Sunset’s chest tighten. She stepped back, her hands resting against the wall behind her. Her gloves ran across the peeling wallpaper, tearing it even more in the process. She looked at the girls, her eyes searching for some semblance of trust. Yet, Sunset saw none, just anger and distrust in their gazes. Her wings stretched against her hoodie as they tried to wrap around her. If it wasn’t for the wall, she was sure that her wings would’ve busted through the fabric right then and there. Standing there in front of the girls, she realized that all they saw in her was a monster. Nothing more than a monster who pretended to be their friend for almost a week.

The polychromatic athlete was the third one of the girls that seemed to be less frightened and more shocked and distrustful. But that said, she still hesitated when it came to approaching Sunset Shimmer. Even when she walked up to her to examine her appearance, she kept her distance from her. Rainbow Dash wasn’t sure if Sunset was still herself, and she didn’t want to take a chance. Not if there was a chance that she was Demon Shimmer again. However, there was a part of her that hoped Sunset was still their friend and could forgive her if she was wrong. There was a voice in her head telling her that she was making the wrong choice and risking their friendship. So, for her sake, Rainbow Dash hoped that she had made the right one; otherwise, she wasn’t sure what she would do. Getting thirsty, she flashed over to the kitchen and grabbed a soda to drink.

Applejack, wanting to see the rest of what Sunset Shimmer was hiding, stepped up to her and jabbed her finger into her shoulder as she said, “Is that all of the changes that occurred? Or are there more that you’re hidin’ from us underneath that hoodie of yours, Demon Shimmer?”

“Applejack! Please, stop calling Sunset that. She’s our friend, and she has feelings which you’re hurting calling her that name,” said Rarity, pulling Applejack away from Sunset Shimmer. “And don’t let your anger get the better of you, please.”

“I-I’m sorry, S-Sunset. I didn’t mean to let my anger get the better of me,” Applejack said, meeting Sunset’s gaze. “But that doesn’t change the fact that we deserved to see the extent of what happened to you. It’s the least you could do if you are our friend, Sunset.”

Sunset Shimmer swallowed as she met Applejack’s gaze. Her ears flopped down as she stepped closer to the rest of the girls. “This isn’t all of them; there is more.”

“Can we see the rest?” asked Pinkie Pie, speaking for the first time since they arrived.

“I-I don’t know, I don’t want to frighten you any more than I already have,” replied Sunset Shimmer, looking at Fluttershy as she spoke.

“Please, show us.” Fluttershy stepped out a little from behind Pinkie Pie. “We’re your friends, Sunset. We want to see the rest of your changes if you'll allow us to, that is.”

“Do you trust us, dear?” asked Rarity, taking Sunset’s attention off of Fluttershy, who was still close to their party friend.

“Yes, I do trust you.” Sunset Shimmer walked over to her bathroom door and rested her hand on the doorknob. “Do you girls really want to see the rest of the changes?”

“Yes,” said Applejack as the girls nodded in agreement.

“Okay, I will be right back then,” said Sunset Shimmer, turning the doorknob.

Sighing, Sunset Shimmer opened the door and walked into the dark bathroom. As she closed the door shut, she let out a few sobs as a couple of tears streamed down her cheek. She wiped them off and gathered herself once more. Sunset didn’t want to let herself fall apart just yet. Her body trembled as she made her way over to the sink, removing her gloves and freeing her claws as she stood in front of it. She moved her fingers around, enjoying the freedom of not being stuck inside the leather gloves. Putting her hands on the sink counter, she looked at herself in the mirror above the sink. The next thing Sunset had to remove was her contacts. They were the one thing that helped her look like herself before the transformation. Yet, she knew that the girls deserved to see everything, even if it terrified her to show it.

Carefully, Sunset removed each contact and placed them in their vial so she could put them on tomorrow. When that had gotten finished, she took another glance in the mirror. This time, she saw her reflection bearing a striking resemblance to Demon Shimmer. The fear and hurt still showed, but now she looked like a terrifying monster. Sunset wanted to break her mirror as she struggled to keep the tears from falling. The girls’ words and actions had dug away at what little confidence she had, leaving her hating her appearance all the more. Thankfully, she still had her hoodie on for now, and that helped her feel a bit better. Taking a breath, Sunset opened the door again and faced the girls.

“These are some of the other changes,” said Sunset Shimmer, looking at the girls and giving them a weak smile.

As Sunset nervously looked around, the girls let out a collective gasp. Her eyes now had an inky blackness surrounding them. Her irises had remained the same color, but that didn't do much to ease the scariness of her eyes. Fluttershy, who was starting to get braver recoiled behind Pinkie Pie. Something that didn’t go unnoticed by the redhead.

“Oh, so you were wearing contacts!” shouted Pinkie Pie.

“Yeah…” replied Sunset Shimmer, biting the corner of her lip. "I thought it would help make my new… changes seem less scary to you.”

“Dem-Sunset, why are you still wearin’ your hoodie?” asked Applejack.

“I am wearing it because of… these…” Sunset Shimmer moved her hand to the zipper and pulled it down, removing her hoodie and letting her wings stretch to their length as it got discarded.

Sunset Shimmer looked at the girls, gauging their reactions as she stood there, completely exposed to them. She saw that most of them were shocked and a bit taken aback by her full appearance. But when she turned her attention to the shyest of all the girls, she was met with a look of pure fear and panic. In an attempt to calm Fluttershy down, she took a cautious step forward. Sunset’s eyes remained on her as she tried to show that she wouldn’t hurt her. Sunset reached out her hand in hopes that she would take it, but that only made her cling tightly to Pinkie Pie’s arm. Unfortunately, the hurtful reactions didn’t stop there because she saw all the girls back away from… her.

“Guys, you’re not afraid of me, are you?” asked Sunset Shimmer as she looked at the girls.

“Um…” was all that Sunset got in response from both Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie. The latter looked at Sunset as she said, “It’s hard not to be afraid of you right now.”

Fluttershy, who was already violently trembling and shaking from fear, felt herself grow light-headed as she saw Sunset’s enormous wings open to their full size. Her heart raced faster than she had ever felt before, making her feel winded as her breathing increased with her pulse. As her breaths became short and quick, she saw spots in vision as it darkened on the edges. It was too much for her to bear seeing Sunset look like the she-demon she was at the Fall Formal. And being afraid for so long had taken its toll on her body. Slowly, Fluttershy felt herself unwillingly let go of Pinkie Pie’s arm. When she let go, her inability to keep her balance took over, and she collapsed to the floor.

While Pinkie Pie stood there, she felt the animal lover’s grip loosen on her arm. The lack of pressure prompted her to look behind her. The girls did the same, wanting to know what just happened. She looked just in time to see her shoulder hit the hardwood floor next to her. Pinkie Pie tried to grab Fluttershy’s arm and stop her before she fell completely but was too late. A few seconds later, her head collided with the floor, making sure that she was unconscious.

“Fluttershy?!” shouted the girls as they ran over to their fallen friend.

Sunset tried to run over and help, but a firm hand on her chest stopped her. She looked down and saw that Applejack was the one who stopped her. Looking up at her, she knitted her eyebrows in confusion. “What the-? Applejack, what are you doing?”

“Don’t go over there, Demon Shimmer,” said Applejack.

“I-I want to make s-sure that Fluttershy is okay,” Sunset Shimmer said as she tried to push past Applejack.

Rarity, seeing the commotion, walked over. “I’m sorry, Sunset, but I am with Applejack on this one.”

“What do you mean?” asked Sunset, unable to believe what she was hearing. “Do you guys not trust me at all?”

“We don’t know if you’re our friend or just pretending,” said Pinkie Pie as she looked at Sunset shimmer. “I’m sorry, but we can’t trust you until we know that you’re on our side.”

Sunset struggled to keep her composure as the girls told her the cold truth about how they felt. “Rainbow Dash? Do you feel the same way?”

“Yeah, I do. I think you’re Demon Shimmer, not our friend. If you were Sunset, you would’ve told us what happened the night it went down rather than lying to us,” replied Rainbow Dash, not bothering to see that Sunset was on the verge of tears.

Applejack removed her hand from Sunset’s chest. “I think it’s best if you just… stay away from her… and us.” Her voice was low but stern. “Just until we’ve all had some time to consider if we can trust you at all.”

“O-oh… okay, I get it. You d-don’t trust me and think I-I am going to h-hurt you. I will go to my bedroom then. It’s p-probably best that Fluttershy doesn’t see my new t-terrifying appearance when she wakes up anyway,” said Sunset Shimmer as her ears flattened against her head. Her voice quivered as she tried to keep herself from crying in front of the people she had called her friends.

Turning away from the girls, Sunset Shimmer ran up the stairs, heading to her bedroom. While she made her way up the stairs, she could hear them move Fluttershy to her couch. A small part of her wanted to help them, to make sure that her friend was alright. However, the girls had made it clear she wasn’t wanted or needed at the moment. Sunset knew that probably was best that she kept her distance until Fluttershy felt okay with seeing her and the way she now looked. She sat down on her bed, moving the pillow out of her way as her wings wrapped around her. Feeling their leathery texture rubbing against her skin, she felt horrified and disgusted.

“I… I made Fluttershy faint because I showed them what happened. I scared her and the rest of my friends. They… don’t trust me anymore…” thought Sunset as she pulled her knees to her chest.

“You know, you did the right thing with coming clean about your transformation on Thursday,” Sunset Shimmer’s conscience said, breaking its silence. “I know it was hard to do that, especially since you risked them rejecting you.”

“Hard? Hard?! Try completely terrifying… and hurtful. The girls no longer trust me and think I am not their friend because I look like Demon Shimmer. I mean, Applejack told me to leave them alone. That she didn’t think it was best for me to be with them and Fluttershy.” Sunset Shimmer rested her head on her knees. “They hate me.”

“Well, at least the girls didn’t leave after you showed them. Just give them time to adjust to it. Remember how it felt when you saw Twilight become Midnight Sparkle again?” asked the redhead’s inner voice.

“Yeah…” was all Sunset Shimmer could think as she started to break down and let go of some of her built up tears.

“Remember how shocked you were when you saw that? You weren’t even sure if she was your friend. So, give the girls a chance to calm down and see that you’re still the old you,” said Sunset’s conscience.

“Yeah, I remember that. Okay, I will try to give the girls their space. I just hope they’ll see me as their friend and forgive me for lying to them…” thought Sunset Shimmer, letting her thoughts go quiet as the pain and guilt overwhelm her.

*** *** *** ***

An hour later, Rarity was sitting on the couch and dabbing Fluttershy’s forehead with a washcloth. Fluttershy was paler than a ghost and cold to the touch. Her fear and panic had taken its toll on her body. And her fall didn’t help her in any manner. However, all of the girls were in a similar position. The fight with Springtrap had battered them all pretty good. And their injuries were sapping what remained of their energy. The idea of laying down in their beds and sleeping the night off was an appealing one. But it would have to wait until after they sorted things out with Sunset Shimmer. When Rarity finished with the washcloth, she set it down on the table.

“Do you think she’ll be alright?” asked Rarity, looking at the girls.

“Fluttershy will be fine. It was just a fainting spell, Rare,” said Rainbow Dash, taking a gulp of her soda.

“I was talking about Demon Shimmer-I mean, Sunset. She seemed upset when Applejack asked her to leave, Rainbow,” said Rarity as she looked at the stairs leading to Sunset’s room.

“I-I don’t know,” Applejack said, sitting on the second to last stair. “Between all of us fearin’ her, Sunset did seem to be hurt.”

“Yeah… she did seem really hurt. Similar to how Twilight was when she became Midnight Sparkle again.” Rainbow Dash looked down at her soda can. “Do you think we made a mistake being so harsh with Demo-Sunset?”

“Well, I don’t think Sunset liked getting called Demon Shimmer, Rainbow,” said Rarity. “That wasn’t helping her feel any better. I wish you and Applejack hadn’t started doing that.”

“We’re sorry about that, Rarity.” Applejack sighed. “I regret callin' Sunset that now. I should’ve watched my anger and not let it get the better of me.”

“You’re not the only one who messed up, Applejack. We all did,” said Pinkie Pie. “And telling her that we didn’t trust her anymore was not a good thing. I’d be surprised if Sunset forgave us for that.”

“Do you think Sunset would forgive us for mistreating her?” asked Rainbow Dash.

Rarity looked down at Fluttershy. “I don’t know if Sunset would. We were all pretty mean towards her. No wonder she didn’t come to us sooner. She was afraid we’d react the way we did.”

“I didn’t even think about that,” Applejack said, turning around and seeing Sunset Shimmer sitting on her bed, still huddled into a ball. “I was so caught up in my anger at Sunset lyin' to us, that I forgot that she might’ve been scared that we’d hate her because of what she looks like now.”

“Just like Twilight was before she ran away from us,” said Rainbow Dash. “You don’t think she would…”

“I hope not. I preferably would like not to chase down another she-demon friend tonight,” said Rarity, leaning back against the couch.

Just then, Fluttershy’s eyelids fluttered open as she woke up from her fainting spell. She blinked a few times, trying to recall where she was. Her last memory was of her falling to the ground seconds before blurry versions of the girls ran over to her. There was a smell of strawberries and laundry detergent. She recognized the scent from the shampoo that Sunset used often. As her vision cleared up, Fluttershy could make out the familiar surroundings of Sunset’s apartment. She moved her hand along the back of the couch and realized she was laying on it. Looking around, she noticed that almost everyone was around, but Sunset was missing from the group. Applejack was sitting on the stairs with Pinkie Pie while Rainbow Dash was sitting on the floor next to the couch. She saw that Rarity was seated next to her, a worried look on her face.

“Oh good, you’re awake now, Fluttershy,” said Rainbow Dash, finishing the last of her soda.

“Y-yeah. B-but, where is Sunset?” asked Fluttershy. “Why isn’t s-she with you, g-girls?”

The girls all looked between them before shifting their gaze to the stairs. They knew precisely where Sunset Shimmer was, but none of them wanted to admit that they told her to stay away. They were ashamed of what they had done to their friend. All of them realized they had made a mistake in treating her so harshly, especially when she did nothing but comply with what they asked of her. However, Applejack, knowing that someone had to tell Fluttershy the truth, decided she should tell her. She was the one responsible for telling Sunset to stay away from them. Walking over to Fluttershy, she placed her hand on her shoulder.

“I… told Sunset to stay away from you and us. I figured that you weren’t gonna want to see her when you woke up.” Applejack gave Fluttershy an apologetic smile, which did nothing to help her friend.

“Why did you do that, AJ?” asked Fluttershy, sitting up on the couch. “Don’t you think she’s our friend still?”

“I-I…” the cowgirl wasn’t sure how to respond.

“Fluttershy, dear, we did what we thought was best for you. You were so scared that you fainted,” said Rarity, trying to help Applejack.

“Did what’s best for me? What about what’s best for Sunset? If she wanted to be here, you girls should’ve let her be here,” said Fluttershy, her tone stern and devoid of kindness.

“She might be our friend, but none of us wanted to risk the chance that she isn’t,” Rainbow Dash said. “We’re sorry, Fluttershy.”

“No, Rainbow Dash. You’re not going to apologize to me.” Fluttershy glared at the athlete as she met her eyes. “You’re all going to apologize to Sunset.”

“Assuming she is Sunset and not Demon Shimmer,” said Rainbow Dash, crossing her arms.

“Enough! Stop calling Sunset that I don’t want to hear it anymore.” Fluttershy’s hand balled into a fist as her anger swelled. “It’s bad enough that you all had to say what you did to her face. That I fainted because I was so scared of her appearance. And I don’t even want to know how you treated her while I was out.”

“Fluttershy, are you mad at us?” asked Pinkie Pie.

“Yes, girls, I am mad at you, but I am also mad at myself. I am mad that we treated Sunset like she was our enemy,” said Fluttershy, letting her hand relax at her side. “I wish I hadn’t let my fear get the better of me. She didn’t deserve that, not when she had helped me earlier.”

As she looked around, Fluttershy remembered what happened before she passed. The hurt look on Sunset’s face as they backed away from her, the sadness which clouded her eyes, it all came back to her. Sunset had tried to show that she wasn’t a danger to them. Yet, they all refused to believe her and just pushed her away. As Fluttershy recalled what Sunset looked like, her hands began to tremble. The image in her mind wasn’t easy to stomach, and she almost wanted to vomit. She took a few deep breaths, reminding herself that Sunset was still her friend. That seemed to help her shakiness and made her want to fix what they had done.

“Can I go see Sunset? Alone?” asked Fluttershy.

Fluttershy glanced up at Sunset’s bedroom. She could make out a vague outline of a person on the bed. Knowing that it was Sunset Shimmer, she felt her throat close up as she swallowed. Although she was a bit fearful of facing her, she knew that Sunset needed her more. Fluttershy could see that she was hurting too because of their reactions and words. And she realized that when she fainted after Sunset had revealed her wings, it only made things worse for her. None of this should have happened to her, not when she had told them the truth as they asked. And they shouldn’t have pushed her away afterward because she looked like Demon Shimmer. There was a part of her, much stronger than her fear, that had to make sure she understood that she didn’t mean to hurt her.

The girls all looked at Fluttershy, watching her as she stood up from the couch. Their eyes were wide with shock as they didn’t expect the shyest of them to be the braver of the group. None of them expected her to see Sunset, let alone want to be by herself with her after what occurred earlier. Ignoring their shocked expressions, Fluttershy walked over to the stairs where Pinkie Pie was still sitting.

“Are you sure that you want to do this, Fluttershy?” asked Pinkie Pie as she stood up.

Fluttershy glared at Pinkie Pie before calming herself again. “Pinkie, please don’t stop me. I am going to try and repair the damage we’ve caused. We’re her friends; this is not how we should have acted towards her, even if she lied to us.”

“But-”

“No, Pinkie. I will not stay away because you or the girls say that Sunset isn’t our friend. I am tired of hearing that, and frankly, I am disappointed that any of us jumped to that conclusion.” Fluttershy heard Sunset shift on her bed. “I wish none of us had called her… Demon Shimmer.”

“What are you going to do?” Pinkie Pie asked, looking behind her for a moment.

“Sunset needs a friend right now, and I am going to be that friend. She needs to know someone is on her side. That there is someone who cares about how she feels,” replied Fluttershy.

“And if something goes wrong?” asked Pinkie Pie.

“It won’t because I know that Sunset is still our friend, even if you don’t see that because of her altered appearance,” said Fluttershy.

Pinkie Pie stood in front of Fluttershy.

“Pinkie, please don’t make me have to use the Stare on you. You’re not going to stop me from talking with Sunset,” Fluttershy said, stepping onto the first step and waiting for Pinkie Pie to move.

“Okay, just be careful,” said Pinkie Pie as she stepped aside.

“I will be, Pinkie,” replied Fluttershy.

With that, the animal lover made her way slowly up the stairs, not wanting to spook Sunset Shimmer. Her balance was still a little off, causing her to stumble over the steps a few times as she made her way up. Once she was standing on the landing in between both parts of the stairway, she stopped. Fluttershy didn’t want to proceed any further until she had Sunset’s okay to come into her room. After what the girls did, she wasn't sure if Sunset would want any company.

“S-Sunset?” Fluttershy looked up at the loft, hoping to see Sunset Shimmer. “Can I come up and talk to you?”

Sunset, still cocooned inside of her wings, lifted her head off her knees as she looked at the stairs. The sound of Fluttershy’s voice calling her by her name was shocking to hear. Her wings instinctively retracted and pulled up against her back as she moved around on her bed. She swung her legs over the side of her bed that faced the stairway. Her heart thundered in her chest as she heard Fluttershy take another step up the stairs, moving closer to her. Knowing that her friend, the one she had terrified so much that she fainted, was coming towards her was enough to make her panic. Sunset wasn’t sure if she was ready to see any of the girls right now. However, to see that Fluttershy wanted to talk to her, she had to take a chance. So, after a few minutes of silence had passed, she decided to say something in return.

“Y-yeah.” Sunset Shimmer barely managed to speak louder than a whisper. Her fear of frightening Fluttershy was almost too intense. “Y-you can c-come up.”

Fluttershy, upon hearing Sunset’s confirmation to walk into her room, made her way up the stairs. Each step she took made her heart pound even more in her chest. After what seemed like hours, she came across a figure with giant bat wings sitting on the bed, facing her. Her breath caught in her throat as Fluttershy tried to remain calm. She reminded herself that it was Sunset, not a monster, that was sitting in front of her.

“S-Sunset?” Fluttershy saw Sunset’s wings move around her body as she stepped foot in her room. “Mind if I sit next to you?”

Sunset Shimmer was more than shocked by the bravery Fluttershy was showing by coming closer to her. Especially since she was the reason that she had fainted earlier, that scene still replayed in her head as she sat there in the silence. Watching the girls go from shocked and fearful to blatant distrust because of that, it hurt in ways that she couldn’t describe. Sunset looked down at her hands before gripping the edge of her bed.

“Are you sure that you want to sit next to me, Fluttershy?” asked Sunset Shimmer, keeping his gaze locked on the floor.

Fluttershy looked at the redhead. Even though she couldn't see her face, she could hear the pain in her voice. That caused some of her fear to dissipate as she saw someone who was hurt. Sunset was just as human as she was, not even her altered appearance could change that. And it made her anger at the girls’ actions grow more. Fluttershy hoped that she could help Sunset feel better and maybe get her to come down to talk to the girls. Fluttershy knew that in order to do that, she had to be honest about how she felt while letting Sunset see that she wasn’t going to run away from her.

“Well, no, I am not sure that I want to sit next to you right now. But you’re my friend, Sunset.” Fluttershy tried to sound as sweet as she could. She sat down at the end of the bed, keeping her distance from Sunset Shimmer as she didn’t want to push her boundaries just yet. “I am willing to push past my fear because I care about you, just like what I did with Twilight.”

That made the redhead look directly at Fluttershy in disbelief at what just heard.

“D-do you mean that Fluttershy?” asked Sunset, wanting to hear Fluttershy say that she was telling the truth.

As Sunset Shimmer met Fluttershy’s gaze, she forgot that she had removed her contacts earlier. For a few long seconds, she saw Fluttershy looking at her and through her outward appearance as Demon Shimmer. That one look meant the world to her. After seeing only fear and hatred in the girls’ eyes, it was nice to see that at least one of them could see past her recent change of appearance. However, that relief didn’t last for very long. Sunset watched as Fluttershy jumped off her bed and stared at her like a deer in headlights.

Fluttershy looked fearfully at Sunset, unable to take her gaze off of her demonic-looking eyes. The blackness of them made her feel like she was looking into the abyss. It was enough to frighten her and make her give in to her fear. Yet, despite the drastic change, she could see that it was Sunset looking back at her. But that didn’t stop her from involuntarily stepping back from her as her survival instincts kicked in. Fluttershy felt the desire to protect herself wash over her as fear took hold of her once more.

“Oh, I am so sorry, Fluttershy!” Sunset Shimmer looked away, realizing that her eyes were scaring the animal lover now that her contacts were no longer keeping her real eyes hidden. “I forgot that my contacts aren’t in anymore.”

The animal lover watched as Sunset Shimmer turned away from her. She did it again. She hurt her friend, made her feel like she was a freak. All because of something that was out of her control. That gave Fluttershy enough courage to push her fear back and regain her calm demeanor as she stood in front of Sunset. For a moment, her hand hovered over one of Sunset’s wings, which slowly began to wrap around her as she stood there. She could see that her body was trembling under her hand as if she sensed its presence near her. Making a choice, she decided not to touch Sunset. It was too risky, and she didn’t want to do something that would make her pull away and retreat even further away from her and the girls.

“Look at me, Sunset.” Fluttershy’s tone was stern but kind.

“B-but my eyes, they’re-”

“Please, look at me,” said Fluttershy, not taking no for an answer.

Reluctantly, Sunset obliged, lowering her wings a little as she did so. When she looked at Fluttershy, she saw her sit next to her. That resulted in making one of her wings brush against her forearm. The contact made Sunset freeze as she waited to see what Fluttershy would do. However, Fluttershy didn’t do anything, didn’t even pull her arm away. That made her curiosity pique as she wondered why she didn’t do anything. Sunset went to pull her hand away when she felt a hand grab hers.

“Sunset, don’t please,” Fluttershy said, her hand holding Sunset’s shaky one in a gentle grip. “I don’t want to see you flinch away from me because I was scared for a moment.”

“I-I don’t want to scare you, Fluttershy,” said Sunset Shimmer, her voice slightly trembling as she tried to remain calm for Fluttershy’s sake. “I know that I don’t exactly look like myself right now. And that my new features are a bit… frightening for you.”

Fluttershy kept her eyes locked with Sunset’s cyan ones as she said, “I meant what I said earlier about you being my friend. Do you know why I came up here?”

“W-why?” asked Sunset Shimmer, curious to what Fluttershy’s answer was going to be.

“I came up because I saw a friend in need. And when I look at you, I don’t see Demon Shimmer, Sunset,” said Fluttershy. “I saw you and the pain my actions caused you. I came here to show you that you’re my friend, no matter what you may look like.”

Sunset Shimmer felt a smile tug at the corners of her mouth. “Fluttershy, please, tell me that is truly how you feel. I don’t want to get hurt again.”

“I mean every word I said, Sunset. Every. Word.” Fluttershy scooted a little closer to Sunset so that her wing got firmly pressed against her arm. “See?”

Hearing those words and seeing Fluttershy not shy away from her even though she had nothing to hide her demonic appearance made Sunset start to cry. The tears she had held back during their conversation broke free as she looked down. When the tears began to pour down her cheeks, she felt a gentle hand wipe a few of them off. Looking up, Sunset saw Fluttershy was the one wiping them off. Although, as she looked up, she remembered her eyes, and that made her start to look away. However, a hand on her cheek stopped her from looking away as it grabbed her chin, pulling her eyes back to its owner. Sunset’s eyes once again met Fluttershy’s gentle gaze.

“I’m so happy to see that you’re not fearful of being close to me… in this form,” said Sunset Shimmer, carefully smiling, so she didn’t reveal her fangs.

“I’m sorry that I fainted after you showed us your wings.” Fluttershy looked down as she let go of Sunset’s hand. “They are-”

“Horrible?” asked Sunset, remembering how much she hated them.

“I was going to say they are kind of cool looking,” said Fluttershy as she looked at Sunset Shimmer.

“O-oh, thanks,” replied Sunset Shimmer. “And I am sorry that I frightened you and the girls. I tried to-”

“Sunset, it’s alright. We should've handled it better. I see why you didn’t tell us right away,” Fluttershy said, looking up at Sunset Shimmer. “I just hope you’ll give us another chance to show you we’re still your friends.”

“I will,” said Sunset as she grabbed Fluttershy’s hand and squeezed it, being careful to avoid her claws harming her. “Can I give you a hug, please?”

Fluttershy, still holding Sunset’s hand, stood up from the bed. “Of course, you can.”

That was all Sunset Shimmer needed to let go of Fluttershy’s hand and wrap her arms around her. She was careful about her claws as she rested them against her back. They were sharp, and without her gloves, they posed a risk to her. Sunset didn’t want to hurt the one friend who was willing to give her the physical contact she missed. Burying her face in the crook of Fluttershy’s neck, she let her body relax. The scent of lilac and the shelter wafted towards her as she inhaled deeply. It was comforting to her, making her feel like there was a chance the girls could accept her situation and treat her the same.

Fluttershy, surprised by the sudden action of Sunset immediately hugging her, slowly wrapped her arms around her friend. Her fingers brushed Sunset’s wings, making her pull back for a moment. She wasn’t sure if that was going to make her uncomfortable, considering that she noticed her hatred of her appearance. Fluttershy understood why she hated the way she looked and was afraid to tell them about it. That made her move her hands closer to her wings, letting her fingertips brush against them. She could feel their warmth, but the texture was the biggest surprise to her. Instead of the coarse, leathery feel that she was expecting, Fluttershy felt a leathery silk-like texture that was comparable to that of cotton.

As Sunset closed her eyes, she let herself revel in her friend’s gentle touch. The way Fluttershy was hugging her felt she was afraid that she was going to break if she wasn’t careful. Yet, it made Sunset feel like she hadn't got trapped in her past demonic form. Her wings wrapped around Fluttershy as she pulled her closer to her. The hug reminded her of the way Twilight used to hug her whenever she needed it. That made Sunset realize that if she told her the truth, she might never get to hug her again. The thought made her heart fracture into pieces as it was too much to bear. As Twilight crossed her mind, her inner conscience came back.

“You know that you’ll have to tell Twilight before the sun sets completely, right?” asked Sunset’s conscience.

“Yes, I am aware of that. And I will… once I finish up with the girls,” thought Sunset Shimmer as she pulled away from the hug, her wings folding against her back.

“Sunset, are you ready to face the girls now?” asked Fluttershy, looking at Sunset.

“Are you sure the girls want to see me now that they know what I look like?” Sunset Shimmer walked over to her railing, looking down at her living room. “They said that I couldn’t be trusted because I look like…”

Fluttershy placed a hand on Sunset’s wing. “Like Demon Shimmer?”

“Y-yeah,” replied Sunset. “I am scared the girls will push me away if I try to approach them.”

“Well, the girls have to apologize for their actions. And I’m not going to let them hurt you, Sunset,” said Fluttershy. “They will see that you’re still you if you give them a chance to.”

“Okay, I will come down and talk to them. By the way, thank you. I needed that hug.” Sunset walked away from the railing and towards her stairs.

Fluttershy cleared her throat, trying to keep herself calm. “You’re welcome. I was just doing what I could to help you feel better.”

“Well, it did help a lot, Fluttershy. I am glad that at least one of my friends isn’t afraid of me,” said Sunset Shimmer, holding out her hand for Fluttershy. “Come on, let’s go.”

“Good,” said Fluttershy as she took Sunset’s outstretched hand.

Together, the two girls joined the rest of their friends in the living room. As Sunset Shimmer entered the room, the tension in the room tightened like a string on a guitar. The mood changed from slightly relaxed to tense in a matter of seconds. A heavy silence fell over it, and one could hear a pin drop. Feeling that shift, Sunset chose to sit by the window next to her large screen TV. She wanted to keep a distance between her and the girls for their sake. After all, she had frightened them enough, and she didn’t want them to feel threatened by her. Fluttershy chose to sit next to Pinkie Pie, who had joined Rarity on the couch.

Applejack, who returned to her place on the stairs, looked at Sunset Shimmer. She tried her best to keep her anger in check. And considering what happened earlier that day, it made it somewhat easier. Sunset had come through with her promise to tell the girls what happened on Thursday, but that didn’t change much. She still lied to them and hid it for almost a week. Applejack valued honesty in any type of relationship. So, to have Sunset know that and chose to lie to them, it both annoyed and hurt her. Sighing, Applejack looked down at her hands, the silence leaving her unable to say anything.

As Sunset sat down on the floor, she kept her wings pulled behind her. She rested her back against the wall, careful not to push too much of her weight on them. Her tail laid on the floor beside her as she didn’t want to risk sitting on it. It was painful enough to have it yanked by an animatronic rabbit earlier. Her ears flattened against her head as she remembered the girls and the fact that she had run off after that. Sunset prepared herself to get yelled and bombarded with a ton of questions. She knew that she deserved it for betraying their trust and doubting their friendship and loyalty.

“Are you still our friend, S-Sunset? Or are you…” Applejack asked, avoiding any eye contact with Sunset Shimmer. The changes that occurred to the redhead still unnerved her. “And don’t lie to us.”

“I haven’t become a raging she-demon again, AJ!” shouted Sunset Shimmer, staring at her hands. “It’s still me, girls. Just like Twilight is still herself, despite… what’s happened to her recently.” Sunset’s voice changed, going from angry to calm, only to end up revealing her hurt.

Applejack, as well as the rest of the girls, heard the hurt tone in Sunset’s voice. It was clear that the question, although asked with good intentions, had hurt her even more. In front of them, with her knees pulled to her chest, she looked like a shell of her former self. And knowing they were the cause of it, the girls remained silent. Applejack removed her hat and set it on the stair next to her.

“I’m sorry, Sunset. I-I just needed to know…” Applejack went silent, not wanting to make it worse.

“I-I k-know, AJ,” said Sunset Shimmer. “Me looking like Demon Shimmer means I possibly could be her again.”

“I didn’t mean it like that,” said Applejack.

Sunset Shimmer sighed. “I know that, but it doesn’t change what you said to me earlier.”

“Are you okay, Sunset?” asked Rainbow Dash, taking herself by surprise along with the rest of the girls.

Sunset Shimmer’s ears perked up as she heard what her athletic friend asked her. She looked at her, eyes wide with surprise and curiosity. Sunset didn’t expect her to ask that question out of all the questions she could’ve asked. Sure, anything about her appearance, why she had lied, or how it all happened. Yet, Rainbow Dash asking about her if she was okay wasn’t one of the things she was expecting. Sunset appreciated the gesture; it gave her some hope that the girls were beginning to see that she hadn’t changed on the inside.

“No, I am not okay, Dash,” replied Sunset, looking down at her hands, which rested in her lap. “It’s hard to see you, my closest friends, look at me and fear me because I look a bit different now.”

Pinkie Pie, who was munching on a cookie she had grabbed earlier, stopped. She met Sunset’s gaze briefly before looking away. Her hair seemed to deflate like a balloon losing its air. The usual bounciness of it disappeared as guilt clouded her blue eyes. She was usually the most chipper and hopeful of the group. However, even she had been hesitantly fearful of the redhead when she had shown them her new appearance. And Fluttershy had made her realize that it had been the wrong choice. Finishing the last of her cookie, Pinkie Pie walked over to where Sunset was sitting and took a seat next to her.

That caused Sunset Shimmer to shift away from her. She didn’t want to be close to her. After what happened earlier, it was abundantly clear that her friends didn’t believe that she was still the same Sunset they’d always known. When she had revealed the truth to them as they had asked, she just got pushed away for it. So, right now, she wasn’t exactly willing to be close to them or let them close to her. Not if it meant that they would keep her at a distance again. Just as Sunset had managed to get a few inches between her and her party friend, she felt something touch her shoulder. Jumping, Sunset looked at her, seeing that it was her hand that rested on her shoulder.

“Sunset… we’re sorry,” said Pinkie Pie, a serious tone in her voice. A contrast to her usual bubbly demeanor.

“She’s right, darling. We didn’t mean to hurt you. It was just a…” Rarity trailed off, not sure what to say next.

“A shock? Yeah, I noticed that. I remembered how I felt when Twilight became Midnight Sparkle again,” said Sunset Shimmer, finishing Rarity’s sentence.

“Y-yeah, it was a shock, but we don’t fear you as much anymore now that we know. We can see that you’re still you,” Rarity said, finishing her original thought.

“Thanks,” replied Sunset Shimmer in a flat tone.

Sunset knew that her friends meant well. But to hear that they still feared despite her attempts to show them she wasn’t Demon Shimmer was a punch to the gut. She wrapped her arms around her knees, shrugging Pinkie Pie’s hand off of her shoulder. Her wings tried to cover her like before, but Sunset forced them to remain behind. Mostly because they would hit Pinkie Pie in the process. Although there was a part of her that was too scared to move them, especially after the earlier events of the nights. She didn’t want to risk losing the girls because she startled them.

“It’s not easy to look at you, Sunset. You lied to us. We’re your friends,” said Applejack.

“I know. I shouldn’t have lied to you, girls,” Sunset Shimmer said.

“So, why did you lie to us?” asked Applejack.

“I was…” Sunset Shimmer couldn’t continue. She buried her head in her knees as she concealed the tears that began to fall.

“Wait, were you…?” asked Pinkie Pie.

“Scared, yes,” replied Sunset, her voice barely audible above the building sniffles.

“You were scared? Of what, darling?” Rarity asked as she got off the couch and kneeled in front of Sunset Shimmer.

“I can’t…” said Sunset Shimmer.

Rarity looked at the redhead, saying, “Please… talk to us.”

Sunset Shimmer remained silent. She didn’t want to admit that she was scared of the girls’ hating her. She didn’t want them to know that she had doubted them, their friendship, and their loyalty to her. Yet, she remembered what she almost did to them during the Fall Formal. And their reactions when she revealed herself made it clear that they hadn’t completely gotten over it either. Sunset looked up when she saw Rarity kneel in front of her. Instinctively, she pulled her body further from Rarity, not wanting to touch her and spook her.

“I was scared that you all would hate me because I look like-”

“Like Demon Shimmer now?” asked Rainbow Dash, interrupting Sunset Shimmer.

“Y-yeah.” Sunset Shimmer took a deep breath, wiping some of the tears off her cheeks.

“How could you think that?” asked Rarity. “Didn’t you think that we’d still be your friends?”

“Yes, Rarity, I did. However, I wasn’t so sure because of how I had treated you girls before I changed,” replied Sunset.

Applejack grabbed her hat and moved from the stair she had been sitting on, joining Rarity and Pinkie Pie. She heard Fluttershy move off the couch and sit next to Pinkie Pie. As she looked around, she noticed that the girls were all silent. It seemed they all knew that they had made a mistake in pushing Sunset away. She looked down, knowing that she had been the one to tell her to leave. Applejack returned her attention to the huddled mass that was her friend. Seeing her friend mostly resemble Demon Shimmer was shocking. However, seeing her act scared and skittish rather than angry was even more surprising. It was a drastic change from the first time she had encountered Demon Shimmer. And it was enough to confirm that she was still her friend. Although she now looked like and probably had some of the powers of Demon Shimmer, it was still Sunset Shimmer underneath the outward appearance.

“And is that the reason you lied to us? That you put up this… this charade? Is it because you were scared that we would hate you if you showed us?” asked Applejack.

Sunset Shimmer lowered her knees from her chest, choosing to sit with her legs crossed. Her cheeks were still wet with tears, but she had managed to calm down somewhat. Finally getting to talk to the girls without them fearing her was a huge relief. She was growing a bit nervous with almost all of the girls sitting around her. Sunset noticed that Rainbow Dash was the only one of the girls who was sitting away from her. Taking a chance, she motioned for her to come over.

“Are you sure that it’s okay?” asked Rainbow Dash, standing up from where she had been sitting.

“Yes, please come here, Dash,” said Sunset Shimmer, trying to encourage her friend to join her. “I don’t want you to feel like you can’t approach me.”

“O-okay,” replied Rainbow Dash, sitting next to Rarity.

“And to answer your question, AJ, yes, it is. I was worried that you would because of what I tried to do the last time I.. well, became this,” Sunset Shimmer said, gesturing to her demonic appearance.

Being the closest to Sunset, Pinkie Pie reached out and tried to grab her friend’s hand. But when she saw her flinch away, she stopped for a moment. Pinkie Pie remembered what she had said to her about not trusting her, that she didn’t think that she was her friend anymore. Now more than ever, she regretted those words and wanted to take them back. All Pinkie Pie wanted to do was comfort her friend. She didn’t want to make her any more uncomfortable than she already was. She watched Sunset’s demeanor, making sure it was alright to grab her hand. Once she was absolutely convinced that she wouldn’t pull away, Pinkie Pie slowly grabbed her hand.

The redhead felt a hand slowly move down her arm, making its way to her hand. She looked at its owner, furrowing her eyebrows in confusion. As the hand gripped hers, she felt it tighten its grip. Sunset tried to pull her hand away. She didn’t want to injure Pinkie Pie accidentally with her claws. However, she only succeeded in making the hand grip hers even more tightly. Giving up, Sunset waited to see what she would do next.

“Sunset, we would never hate you because you look like Demon Shimmer again.” Pinkie Pie locked her gaze with Sunset Shimmer’s, making sure that her friend saw that she meant what she said. “We are your friends; nothing will change that.”

“Yeah, we’ll always be your friends,” added Rainbow Dash. “We don’t care that you look like a she-demon. As… long as you don't try to kill us or mind control us again.”

“Yes, I don’t think I have an outfit for being part of an army of teenage zombies,” said Rarity.

That attempt at a joke made Sunset Shimmer and the girls chuckle, breaking the serious mood. Yet, that didn’t last long as Sunset let go of Pinkie Pie’s hand. Shifting her position, she looked away from her friends. It was hard to let them get close after what they did earlier. And seeing that they still had some doubts about her made her wonder if she had made the right choice to talk to them. Then again, she couldn’t blame them. Unlike Twilight, she had tried to harm them and didn’t show any signs of control. If it hadn’t been for Princess Twilight, she wouldn’t have stopped.

“Is that really true? Do you girls really mean that?” asked Sunset Shimmer, wanting to believe that they wouldn’t care about her becoming Demon Shimmer again, that they would see it was her despite the outward changes.

“We do. It hurts to see that you would think otherwise,” said Pinkie Pie, sounding nothing like her usual self. “We care about you. And we don’t want to hurt you or make you feel that you can’t trust us.”

“And we’re sorry for the way we acted earlier. We should’ve trusted you and not jumped to conclusions,” said Applejack.

“We hope you can forgive us,” Fluttershy said. “We know you’re our friend now, and we regret what we said.”

Hearing that made Sunset Shimmer look at the girls. She saw that their expressions were a mix of hurt and worry. That it made painfully clear to her that she hurt them when she admitted that she didn’t trust them to be her friends still. Her ears laid flat against her head as she felt guilt wash over her. After a few moments, Sunset and the girls all stood up. Her wings stretched a little as she stood up, making Pinkie Pie back up to give them room. Looking at the girls, she gave them a small, but still there, smile.

Pinkie Pie saw that Sunset’s mood had changed. Their previously hurt friend now seemed happy, even if it was just a little bit. That made her so glad to see her cheering up, even though it had been a rough night. When Sunset stepped closer to them, her wings draped themselves over her shoulder. That made Pinkie Pie and the girls all looked at each other, wondering what was happening. Pinkie Pie, being the one who always seemed to know things, grinned widely as she looked at Sunset. She had figured out what Sunset was doing.

“I am sorry I hurt you girls. I didn’t mean for that to happen. I promise, if anything like this happens to me again, I will come straight to you,” Sunset’s voice quivered a little as her happiness at her friends’ support threatened to overwhelm her.

“We’ll always be here for you, Sunset. No matter what,” said Applejack, returning Sunset Shimmer’s smile.

“Yeah, totally! You’re a Rainboom and a Wondercolt, we always stick together,” Rainbow Dash said.

“Rainbow’s right. We will be here to help you,” said Rarity. “Right, Fluttershy?”

Fluttershy, not expecting to speak, said, “Oh, um, yeah. You’re our friend, Sunset.”

“Group hug!” shouted Pinkie Pie as she carefully jumped up.

“Thank you, girls,” was all Sunset Shimmer could get in before Pinkie Pie, and the others gathered around her and hugged her.

As the girls hugged Sunset Shimmer, she felt her wings drape themselves over her friends. When none of the girls pulled away, she smiled even more. Her tail also flicked back and forth, showing her happiness. Sunset was careful to keep her claws from touching the girls. She couldn’t trust that she wouldn’t accidentally cut them. Besides, the fight with Springtrap and his army of doppelgangers had clearly left the girls pretty banged up. Reveling in the comfort of having her friends with her, no longer afraid of her appearance, she took a deep breath. After hugging for a few minutes, Sunset pulled away from it, and her wings relaxed.

“So, are you girls okay? I am sorry for running off. If I had known that you were-”

"Enough apologizin’, Sunset. You fought off the Springtraps, saving us from our deaths. That’s somethin’ we’re all grateful for,” Applejack said, placing her hat back on her head.

“Yeah!” shouted Rainbow Dash. “You totally kicked some robot ass!”

Sunset Shimmer smiled. “Thanks, Dash. I was only able to do it because I discovered their weakness, which I will explain soon.”

Just then, Sunset’s phone went off, causing her to pull her phone out of her back pocket. She unlocked her and saw that she had received a message from Twilight Sparkle.

Twi: Sunset, are you coming? Or should I just ask the girls what happened?

SunShim: I am heading over there within the next 15-20 minutes. Just wait, please.

Twi: Fine, I will wait for 20 minutes, then you better get here and tell me what is going on.

SunShim: Okay, I will.

As soon as Sunset Shimmer finished texting Twilight, she turned to the girls.

“That was Twilight, wasn’t it?” asked Fluttershy.

“Yeah, it was girls,” said Sunset Shimmer, her voice lowering as she spoke. “She isn’t going to wait any longer for me to come over.”

“Well, then I guess it’s time for us to be leaving now. I am sure that you and Twilight will want to be alone,” said Rarity as she grabbed Applejack’s hand.

“Yeah, that is probably best. Besides, Twilight might freak out when she sees what I look like now,” said Sunset, a sadness in her voice.

The redhead looked at her hoodie, which still sat in the same spot she had dropped it earlier. She walked over to where it was still lying in a crumpled heap, picking it up. She slipped her one arm into the sleeve, doing the same with the other before zipping it up. Sunset made sure her wings were sitting comfortably in their fabric confines. Stretching them, she felt the padding resting against them. As she looked at her hands, she wondered if her gloves were where she had last left them. Reaching into her pockets, she found the leather gloves inside.

“Good. I have a feeling I’ll need them later,” thought Sunset Shimmer.

“I am going to put my sunglasses on. I am not in the mood to be removing my contacts for a second time tonight. But I wouldn’t want to frighten Twilight right away before I have a chance to explain,” said Sunset Shimmer, turning to the girls.

“Yeah…” said all the girls as they each looked away, the nervousness from earlier returning.

After a few awkward moments of silence, Applejack was the first to speak.

“A’right. We get goin’. Twilight won’t wait forever, and Sunset needs to get ready,” said Applejack, walking with Rarity to the front door.

“Yeah, I agree. I am exhausted from today’s events,” said Pinkie Pie, trying to stifle a yawn. “I haven’t been this party pooped since Twilight drained my magic out of me.”

“Me too. Besides, I have some homework to catch up on before I can get any sleep,” added Rainbow Dash. “I am close to failing algebra… again.”

“You know, Rainbow, if you weren’t putting off your homework until the last minute, you wouldn’t have that problem,” Rarity said.

“Yeah, yeah. I have heard that speech before,” said Rainbow Dash, waving her hand dismissively at Rarity.

“Okay. Don’t blame me if you fail to graduate,” replied Rarity, glaring at Rainbow Dash.

After that, the girls said their goodbyes before they left the apartment. As Sunset closed her front door, she sighed deeply. She knew what was coming up, and she wasn’t looking forward to it. Twilight wasn’t aware of what she looked like now. And without seeing any photos beforehand, Sunset knew that she was in for a shock. She also knew that it was her fault because she wanted to hide her past from her. She just hoped that it would work out as it did with the girls. If it didn’t, she wouldn’t be able to face her ever again. Twilight made it pretty evident she wouldn’t want to see her if she didn’t come forward herself. That chance of losing her was the only reason she was doing this. Clearing her head, she walked up to her room and towards Ray’s cage.

“Hey, Ray. Do you want to walk around for a bit while I am gone?” asked Sunset Shimmer as she pulled off the top of his enclosure.

Ray let out a little bark of joy.

Sunset put her hand near him and said, “Come here, and don’t mind the claws.”

Ray looked at the redhead’s hand, hesitantly.

“It’s okay, Ray, I promise. I won’t hurt you,” said Sunset Shimmer, reassuring him. "I know my claws look scary, but they're not."

That was all Ray needed to climb onto her hand. Sunset lifted him out of his enclosure and set him down on her bed. It was nice to see her pet gecko didn’t fear her new changes.

“Do you promise not to run away while I am gone?” asked Sunset Shimmer.

Ray nodded in response.

“Alright, good. Enjoy yourself, Ray,” said Sunset Shimmer as she watched him go to her pillows and curl up.

Sunset Shimmer stepped in front of her mirror for a moment and lifted her blanket. She saw her reflection staring back at her. Her eyes looked scary, making her heart race the longer she stared at them. However, Sunset was getting used to it by now. The girls’ reactions to her appearance had been traumatic for her. It had not gone as well as she had hoped it would. And there was a nagging feeling telling her that when Twilight Sparkle saw her demonic appearance, it wasn’t going to be pretty. Sunset didn’t like the thought of Twilight fearing her, but it was possible. If it did happen, she knew it was going to hurt a lot more because she cared for Twilight. Her rejection would destroy what little confidence Sunset had, and she wasn’t sure what she would do after that. How could she repair the damage if things didn’t go well?

“You’re doing the right thing,” said Sunset’s inner conscience.

“I hope so. If I lose Twilight now, it’s going to kill me,” thought Sunset Shimmer.

With that, Sunset threw the blanket back over the mirror and walked down the stairs. Any thought of her appearance or Twilight’s reaction to it would have to wait until she got to her house. She grabbed her keys, quickly exiting her apartment. The moon was slowly beginning to show as the sun started its descent behind the mountains. Even the birds’ chirping gave way to the crickets and their songs of the night. Her bike sat in her driveway, no longer surrounded by the girls’ vehicles. There was a temptation to drive it, but it wouldn’t get her to Twilight’s house quickly enough. And she was already tight on time as it was. Her wings flapped inside her hoodie and made her think. Could she fly to Twilight’s home? Sunset looked at the sky, realizing that flying was going to be quicker than running or taking her bike would be. And right now, she wasn’t going to risk being late. Sunset didn’t know if she could do it, but she had to try if she wanted to tell Twilight the truth herself. So, reluctantly she removed her hoodie and let them out.

“Please, let this work,” said Sunset Shimmer as she let them flap a couple of times.

Amazingly, Sunset Shimmer successfully managed to get off the ground. Her wings flapped every few seconds, keeping her in the air. It almost seemed like second nature to her, even though she hadn’t had much experience with wings. She let herself fly a bit higher until she was hovering above the roof of her apartment. The view was amazing, making her regret not doing it sooner. The nearby hills and streets glowed with the light of the setting sun. It looked like a painting come to life. She understood why Twilight liked flying with her wings. The only downside was that her wings weren’t pretty; instead, they were enormous, red bat wings. Not exactly the most angelic looking. That made it less appealing to fly places when people might gawk at them. And she wasn’t willing to endure more fearful looks after tonight. Sunset looked around and spotted Twilight’s house just a few streets over. Not wasting another minute, she headed in that direction.

Fifteen minutes of awkward flying later, Sunset finally arrived at Twilight Sparkle’s house. The flight was much shorter than she had expected. It made her grateful that she took the risk of being seen. Getting into the air had been easy, but the landing was a bit tricky. Without much experience with wings and not much practice with landing or flying, she wasn’t sure how to land. However, Sunset tried her best to land properly with her lack of experience. The sidewalk was just a few feet below her, but her balance was getting thrown off by the small breeze that blew past her. Her wings were sensitive to such things as she learned when she accidentally got pushed back by a strong gust on her way over.

She attempted to land on her feet, but that only resulted in her falling onto the ground. The pavement scratched at her wings and skin, making Sunset wish that she had at least worn a thicker shirt. Her hoodie landed on top of her as she fell backward. Sunset’s wings took most of the impact, saving the rest of her body from any pain. Yet, she knew that her wings were going to feel it later, along with the exhaustion. This was much further than she had flown before. She groaned as she sat up.

“Okay, note to self; learn to land,” said Sunset Shimmer as she got back on her feet.

Looking around, Sunset tried to see if anyone was around her. The sound of a trash can getting knocked over made her jump. Her wings stretched to their full size as she got off the sidewalk. Her eyes scanned the neighborhood, trying to see where the trash can was or the person who knocked it over. Sunset tried to find the source of the sound, but it was getting too dark for her to make out much. If someone was watching her, she wasn’t able to see them. Sighing, she gave up and decided to shake it off. It was better that she focused on Twilight and not letting her nerves get the better of her.

The sun was close to setting below the mountains behind Sunset Shimmer as she walked up to Twilight’s front door. There was an orange glow cast on the house and her, making her feel she was inside a pumpkin. She put her hoodie back on and slipped both her gloves and sunglasses on as well. She didn’t want to shock Twilight right away after what happened earlier. Zipping up her hoodie, she threw the hood over her head. That kept the fall air from nipping at her skin and chilling her, which she was thankful for after flying in the freezing air. Sunset took a deep breath as she stood there. She was about to do the one thing that terrified her the most. The one thing that could cost her the person she cared most about. However, Sunset knew that she had to tell Twilight before anyone else did. And she hoped that everything would work out in the end. Her heart pounded in her chest as she reached towards the doorbell. Everything in her was screaming not to do it, but she ignored it.

“Here goes nothing,” said Sunset as she pressed the doorbell.

A few seconds later, the door opened, and Twilight Sparkle appeared. “Hello, Sunset.”

“Hey, Twilight. We need to talk.” Sunset Shimmer said.

“Yes, we do, Sunset,” said Twilight Sparkle, opening the front door completely and stepping aside. “Come in.”

Sunset Shimmer braced herself for whatever was going to happen as she walked into Twilight’s house.

Author's Note

Feel free to comment on what you all think of this chapter and the story so far. I'd love to hear your feedback.