The town of Canterlot was, today, experiencing some very bright and pleasant weather, with the skies clear of any clouds and the sun shining beautifully down on everyone. All the people of that town, from the students of the local high school, to the rest of the residents there, were all going about their days in a happy manner, as if they had not a care in the world. But, there was one person in all of this who was not smiling. For there, leaning against a secluded section of wall on the outside of Canterlot High, was one of the students. A young teenage girl, of blue skin and rainbow-coloured hair, clad in clothes that gave the distinct impression of being the sporty type. She had her arms folded as she rested against that wall, with a look of utter boredom on her face. Watching many of her fellow students pass her by, she let out a grunt of annoyance before reaching into her pocket and pulling out a crumpled note. Upon it was written the words "east wall - 10:30", which she looked over a couple more times before stuffing the note back into her pocked. Turning, she looked upon the central clock tower of the town, seeing that the time had indeed reached 10:30, and yet there was nobody around for her to meet. Needless to say, she was getting rather upset at this, and so began to start moving away, until, that is, a sudden voice began to startle her.

"Hiya, Dashie!"

As Rainbow Dash backed away in shock, she looked upon the one who'd shouted; a girl her age with bright pink and bubbly hair, who bounced around with a big smile on her face. That was in stark contrast to Rainbow, who glared at her as she recovered from this unexpected greeting.

"Wha...Pinkie?! What's the big idea?!"

Pinkie shrugged her shoulder and rolled her eyes at that.

"Well duh! I'm just so happy you wanted to talk to me after such a long time, how could I not jump for you?"

Rainbow raised an eyebrow at that, her face covered in the clear signs of confusion. Seeing this, Pinkie's smiled faded a little, after which she reached into the pocked of her skirt and pulled out, to Rainbow's surprise, a note.

"Didn't you send me this?" the pink-haired girl asked.

Hesitantly, Rainbow took the note from her when offered, and read, as she expected, the exact same words that had been on her note. Feeling immediately suspicious at all of this, Rainbow narrowed her eyes at Pinkie, who, as usual, was oblivious to how wrong this situation felt. However, before Rainbow could open her mouth to ask further about all this, she was halted by the arrival of an "ahem" to the side. Turning, both she and Pinkie looked upon a third classmate of theirs. A girl with heavily-styled purple hair whose entire appearance just screamed of a love of fashion and aesthetics. She was currently standing there with her hands on her hips, eyeing the other two girls with some measure of dislike.

"Well...I suppose I should have expected some kind of practical joke from you two of all people."

Feeling somewhat indignant at that, Rainbow stepped forward, pulling out her own note and shaking it in front of the new girl.

"Oh, don't go pinning this one on us, Rarity! We got duped too!"

Seeming rather taken aback by that, Rarity took the note from Rainbow and read it, gaining a look of confusion soon afterwards. Although the fashionista would have liked nothing more than to ask about all this, she was interrupted by a new sound, though this one was distinctly quiet and meek. Turning, all three girls looked upon a forth girl, with long pink hair, who was currently doing everything in her power to avoid having them stare at her, including using her aforementioned hair to obscure half of her face.

"Um...did one of you write this note for me?"

Sure enough, there was yet another identical note in the girl's hand, leading to a few frowns from the others. And it wasn't long after that when yet another voice could then be heard.

"Well, ah'll tell ya this much, darlin...it weren't me who wrote it."

Now approaching the group was a fifth girl, with sandy blonde hair and wearing a noticeable Stetson hat upon her head. As the cowgirl approached the rest of the group, it was obvious to anyone with eyes that there was a considerable amount of tension between them, as they all eyed each other with suspicion and distrust. It was a sentiment that Rainbow was more than willing to voice.

"Okay...which of you is behind this?"

Rarity looked to her, rather indignant at those words.

"I don't much care for your tone, Rainbow. If anything, I'd say that you were the most likely person to try something like this!"

That earned her a scornful look from the rainbow-haired girl, and soon afterwards similar disagreements broke out amongst the other girls. However, before things became too heated, another voice entered the fray.

"It wasn't any of you. It...it was me."

Slowly, each of the five girls turned, hearing that familiar voice. And sure enough, there she was; Sunset Shimmer. But, the five girls looked to her and found, to their surprise, that she did not appear as she usually did. Most of the time, Sunset would strut about Canterlot High with utter confidence like she owned the place, mostly because she pretty much did. But here? Here, she looked, of all things, sad. Gone was the confidence and scorn with which she so often carried herself, and now, if anything, she looked just as demure and unsure of herself as Fluttershy. But, while the girls looked on with confusion at this, they noted that Sunset was not alone here today. For standing next to her was another girl their age, with long purple hair. And beside her was a small purple dog, wagging his tail happily. The second girl, whom none of them recognised, nevertheless looked to each of them with an expression that could only be described as longing, though why, none of them could say. Regardless, Sunset's revelation earned her a frown from Applejack, who took a step forward.

"Ah shoulda figured that y'all would be behind this, Sunset!"

The fiery-haired girl looked away, showing, to the shock of the group, actual shame at hearing those words. However, in this moment, it was not her who answered the farm girl, but the second one, who took a step forward and spoke in a calming manner.

"Sunset came here because she needed to speak to all of you...if you're willing to listen."

Applejack stared at the new girl, looking her over before speaking with a raised eyebrow.

"Oh yeah? And who are y'all supposed ta be?"

Putting on a small smile, the new girl spoke.

"My name is Twilight. Twilight Sparkle. And it's a pleasure to meet you."

Twilight lifted a hand, offering it to Applejack in the hopes that she'd shake it in greeting. The farm girl looked to her, still a little uncertain about all this, though Twilight could not blame her. After all, given Sunset's reputation at this school, it wasn't hard to understand why someone would be hesitant to be open to an associate of hers. Even so, Applejack was nothing if not polite, even to complete strangers, and so took the offered hand and shook it briefly. Smiling at this, Twilight turned to the other girls, wherein Rarity took a step forward before addressing her.

"And you would be...?"

"I'm a friend of Sunset's...from back home."

Sunset looked to her, perhaps feeling strange at hearing someone actually call themselves her friends and mean it. But, she soon broke out into a genuine smile at the words before looking back to the other group. As usual, it was Rainbow who was most direct, getting the conversation back on track.

"Okay...let's get the obvious question out of the way. Why did you bring us all here, Sunset?"

Immediately after hearing that question, Sunset's smile faded, replaced instead by a look of uncertainty. She was clearly nervous about what it was that she had to do, and so it wasn't long before Twilight stood alongside her, placing a hand upon her shoulder and gaining her attention. Looking to her, Sunset saw the younger girl give her a reassuring smile, which Sunset, after some time, finally returned. Letting out a deep sigh, the former unicorn stood before the other five girls and spoke clearly to them.

"There's something I need to say to all of you. You've been far from friendly to each other over the last few years, and not without cause. Each of you thought the others were all against you in some way, so you kept your distance. But the thing is..."

She looked away, unable to bring herself to look them in the eye.

"...none of you were responsible for that...I was."

The uttering of those words brought about the expected reaction, as all five of the girls looked on in utter silence. Each of them reacted in their own way, from the silent shock of Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie, to the look on Rarity's face that suggested that she was mentally kicking herself for not suspecting such a thing. But, it was Applejack and Rainbow who, predictably, looked on with increasing anger, as the former spoke up next, with her voice just barely containing the fury.

"Come...again?"

Looking back to her, Sunset bore a genuine look of apology before beginning to explain herself.

"For the past three years, ever since I first came to this school...I've been doing everything in my power to ensure that the students here were all divided, including the five of you. I sent false messages, started rumours, and did everything under the sun to wreck any hope of friendship between you...all to ensure my own influence over the school was unchallenged."

Moments after that confession had been spoken, Rainbow began to stride forward, no doubt to give her own, angrily-voiced opinion of the apologetic girl. But, a raised arm from Applejack soon stopped her, with the latter looking to Sunset with narrowed eyes, as if analysing the girl carefully.

"If that's true...why are ya tellin us all this?"

Sunset was silent after hearing that, and briefly looked over her shoulder to Twilight, who gave her another encouraging nod, before turning back and giving Applejack the answer she wanted.

"Because...I've come to realise just how poisonous my actions were. It took some doing...but someone close to me made me understand just...just what a terrible person I've been, to you...and to many other people too."

She paused briefly, looking into the eyes of each and every one of the five girls as they took her words in, before hanging her head in shame and speaking in a more hushed manner.

"I know I have no right to say this to you, but...I'm sorry. I am truly sorry for everything I've done...everything I've said...and...I beg for your forgiveness."

That caught everyone off-guard. After all, Sunset Shimmer? Begging? That was something completely unheard of for all of them, and needless to say, it led to more than a few confused glances between the girls for quite a while. As for Applejack, she never let her eyes stray from the girl, and now found herself taking a few steps closer to her. Sunset stayed where she was, though felt a great deal of nervousness at the sight of the approaching farm girl. When she was just an inch away from her face, Applejack stared into her eyes, studying every facet of her expression, much to Sunset's concern. But Twilight was not concerned in the slightest, for she knew what was going on here. Pony or human, Applejack always had a good sense of when people were lying to her, and when they were being honest. As such, after a long time of silence, she started to soften her expression somewhat, taking a step back from Sunset and then turning to face the rest of the girls.

"Ah never thought ah'd hear mahself say this...but ah reckon she's tellin the truth!"

The other girls looked to each other, still not quite sure of what to make of all this. Seeing those reactions, Sunset took a step forward, clasping her hands together before speaking to them.

"Please...I know I've done a lot of terrible things here, but...I promise you...I'll do whatever I can to make up for it!"

The girls all looked to her, and knew, in their hearts, that she meant every word of it. It wasn't an easy thing to do, accepting the apology of one they'd been enemies with for so long, and yet, one by one, each of them started to look at Sunset with far less anger, and even some small measure of acceptance. Rainbow, naturally was the hardest sell, but, after exchanging a glance with Applejack, and the latter silently letting her know it was okay to do so, she slumped her shoulders in slight defeat, giving a nod to Sunset.

"Oh...alright! I guess I can live with this. But don't go expecting us to be the best of friends just like that!"

Sunset shook her head.

"I won't. I know this is going to take time, and a lot of it."

Rarity nodded at that before speaking up herself.

"Well...while I can't deny that I am somewhat upset at having been manipulated all this time...I suppose I can accept an apology like that. Besides, we all make mistakes. To err is human, after all."

Sunset smiled at this small measure of welcome, though her smile faded when she heard the distinct sound of somebody clearing their throat. Turing, she saw that it was Twilight, who took a step forward before speaking up for the first time in a long while.

"Yes...about that. You see...that's something else we should probably tell you."

The five girls looked to her with curiosity, but Sunset, by contrast, gained a look of utter horror, as she stepped closer to Twilight and whispered loudly.

"Twilight?! What are you doing?!"

Turning, Twilight gained a look of seriousness before replying to her.

"Sunset...we're going to have to be honest with them...about everything."

Understandably, the former unicorn was less than thrilled with that idea. After all, confessing to one's wrongdoings was one thing, but to let slip a truth as monumental as what Twilight was proposing? That was something else altogether. And yet, in her heart, she knew the younger girl had a point. The truth will out, as some liked to say. So, sighing, Sunset turned to the other girls, who had gained looks of confusion at the exchange between her and Twilight. And speaking of whom, Twilight now stood ahead of Sunset, clearing her throat before speaking clearly to the assembled group before her.

"Sunset Shimmer, and myself...are not humans. We are, in fact, ponies, from the world of Equestria...which can be accessed via the magical portal at the base of the horse statue just outside the front of your school."

Immediately, a silence fell upon the group, and Twilight looked to each and every one of them, trying to guess which would be the first to speak up after that. In her head, she guessed Rainbow, and moments later, she was proved correct, as her words had sunk in long enough for the girl to finally react, throwing her arms into the air and letting out a scoffing sound.

"Ugh! I knew it! This is all just another way for Sunset to stand there and make fun of us! I bet she was lying about this whole apology stuff just so she could laugh at us later!"

But Sunset shook her head frantically at that, fearful that her chance for reconciliation was about to go up in smoke.

"No! I swear to you we're telling the truth!"

Rarity folded her arms and raised an eyebrow at that.

"Forgive me, darling...but you can't honestly expect us to buy into a story as ridiculous as the one your friend here has just spouted, do you?"

Sunset didn't know what words to use in her defence, and so turned to Twilight, hoping she could offer some help. But, she found, to her confusion, that the young girl was bearing a sly smile, as she then looked down to Spike, who had been sitting quietly beside her this entire time.

"Spike? Would you care to help?"

Understandably, the small dog looked to his adopted mother with a raised eyebrow.

"Me? What do you expect me to do about this?"

But Twilight merely kept smiling at him.

"I think that will do just fine."

Spike looked to her with confusion, but then found, to his great discomfort, that he was being stared at by the five girls, each with their mouths hanging open. Nervously, he let out a chuckle and raised a paw before waving it to them. As for Sunset, she finally began to understand Twilight's reasoning for bringing the former young dragon along, and so broke out into a thankful smile, before turning and looking upon the still-shocked collection of girls. It took a long time, about five minutes in total, but eventually, they shook themselves out of that trance-like state, with Rainbow being the first of them to speak.

"Er...did that dog just...talk?!"

Spike smiled proudly and nodded.

"Yep. Spike, at your service."

To the amazement of the girls, the small dog reared onto his hind legs and gave a little bow before going back onto all fours again. Another silence followed, after which, Applejack looked to Twilight and Sunset, her expression utterly blank, before speaking in a hushed tone.

"Sunset...Twilight...ah reckon y'all may need ta start explainin yerselves."

Twilight nodded and smiled at that, before turning to Sunset, urging her on. After taking a deep breath, the latter cleared her throat, addressing the five girls.

"Well...it began a few years ago...when my teacher and I got into a fight..."