After the blinding flash, the girls were all lying down on the ground. Twilight stirred when Spike licked her cheek. She got up and saw the other girls, who slowly came around. She also picked up Spike and gave him a gentle yet loving hug. Phoebe landed near Sunset and nuzzled her, causing the transformed girl to stir. Sunset warmly embraced the red bird, who used her wings to reciprocate.

“What happened?” Fauna asked.

They then noticed the crater Susan was lying in as the smoke cleared, revealing Susan reverted back to her true form with a small bit of blood underneath her.

“Susan!” Sunset exclaimed before jumping into the crater and going to the purified human’s side before helping her up. Susan coughed blood while shedding large amounts of tears from her eyes.

“I…” Susan began before crying. “I’m sorry… I’m so sorry…”

“Save your energy, Susan,” Sunset said calmly. “We’ve freed you from the majority of the dark magic, but, a small portion still lingers. The damage to your body is still there.”

Sunset gently held onto Susan, helping her out of the crater.

“You were really kind to help Susan, Sunset,” Fauna said.

“It wasn’t only kindness,” Twilight explained. “Sunset displayed Empathy, the ability to understand and share the feelings of another.”*

Sunset spoke to the other girls. “The Magic of Friendship cured her, but, this is a temporary solution. Unless she continues to receive a steady supply of it, Susan won’t survive the week.”

“I guess I’m as good as dead,” Susan sniffled mournfully. “In all of the time that I’ve been in high school, I haven’t made an actual friend.”

“Girls, listen,” Sunset said. “I understand that you may have personal grudges against Susan for what she’s done, but, let me ask you, do you genuinely believe she deserves to die for what she did?”

They all agreed that it would be too extreme for her to die.

"Then,” Sunset continued. “You’ll need to make an effort to put your grudges aside and be her friend until she’s stable enough to survive on her own. Whether or not you continue to be her friend afterwards is up to you.”

So, they came forward and comforted Susan.

“It’s going to be okay,” Fauna said.

Spike couldn’t resist cheering.

“Those are my girls!” he said happily.

“Whoa,” said a bystanding boy in surprise. “I thought I heard an unfamiliar voice, but, it came from that dog? Radical.”

Spike was rather incredulous. “You saw three students turn into demons, seven more use magic, a phoenix made of light, and the talking dog is what gets commented on?”

“I, for one,” Rachael said, picking up Spike gently. “Think that you’re wonderful and adorable.” She gave him an affectionate scratch behind the ear.

Just then, Principal Celeste walked up to Twilight with the crown.

“I believe this belongs to you,” she said. “A true princess in this or any world doesn’t force others to bow before her, but, inspire others to stand with her. You have proved to be just such that.” Celeste then noticed that Sunset had the familiar intimidated expression she always wore around her. “Why so worried, Miss Shimmer?”

“You remind me of my mentor from Twilight’s world,” Sunset admitted with worry in her voice. “I came to this world three years ago after failure upon failure of an experiment of mine. I was afraid that my mentor would disown me for my failures.”

“Had you spoken with her in person about your concerns?” Principal Celeste asked gently.

“I was under the impression that she already knew,” Sunset confessed. “Since she sent another of her students to punish my failures. I kept a list of all the ways she did so.” She presented a scroll and let it unroll, revealing it to be several feet long. This shocked all present, even Susan.**

“What?!” Principal Celeste said aghast. “That is abhorrent. But, let me ask you this. If I was like this mentor of yours, have you known me to send a student to punish another student?”

“Well…” Sunset considered. “No.”

“A real mentor would listen to their students,” Principal Celeste advised. “And if there are any real failures, she would have helped you learn through them so you can learn from your mistakes. She wouldn’t have given you any forceful punishment like this. I can understand being afraid, but, does running away from your problems feel like the best way to solve them?”

“No,” Sunset answered. “After what happened tonight, I realized that I made a bigger problem by bringing magic to a world that’s not ready to handle it.”

“I’m proud to have you in my student body,” Principal Celeste said kindly. “And I’m glad you were able to make friends here. But, I advise that you go back and face your problems with your mentor head on.”

“I will,” Sunset said. “And I’m taking all the research I brought with me so it doesn’t fall into the wrong hands again.”

“We will miss you here at CHS,” Principal Celeste said. “But, I think you’ll find that you’ve made the right decision.”

“Can’t we have one last dance with her to see her off?” Pinkie asked.

Twilight looked up at the moon and the stars. Since she noticed there was still time before the portal closed, Twilight allowed it.

Author's Note

Here's the next chapter. Yes, it's another short one.

*FORESHADOWING!!!

**Everybody has standards.

Comments? Questions? Thoughts? You know where to leave them.