After everyone was done taking a number, each of them checked over what number they had, and Pinkie wrote them down. Fluttershy had number one, Rarity got number two, Rainbow had gotten number three--much to her irritation--and Applejack had gotten number five. Each girl took turns spinning a bottle and either giving each other a very quick peck on the cheek or taking the truth or dare of the game. Applejack was laughing at the look on Rarity's face when she had dared the fashionista to create a dress for Apple Bloom without any thread, needles or use of scissors.

Sunset looked down at her peace of paper in her hand, which read ‘Four’. She smiled to her friends as she reached out to take a hold of the bottle. She gave it a hard spin and watched as the tip of the bottle spun until it pointed to Rainbow. Looking up, she smiled tentatively, unsure as to what Rainbow was going to do. With a half-hearted chuckle, she said, “Rainbow, it...it looks like the bottle has landed on you. So, what d-do I do?”

“Well, you can take truth, dare, or kiss,” Rainbow replied, grinning. “I think you should go with dare, myself. That's the fun choice.”

“A-Alright, I’ll do...” Sunset looked down at the bottle again, then back up. She gulped, something that Rainbow noticed. “True or false, then.”

“I think you mean ‘truth’, but whatever.” Rainbow laughed lightly. “Okay, so, umm, I know we can’t ask you about your past, so how about this? True or false: You have never cheated on a test in your entire life.”

“That’s false.” Sunset looked down with a sigh. As all eyes fell to her, she tugged at her shirt a bit. “While I haven't cheated on any test for the past year, I did two years ago, before I embraced friendship and all of you.”

“Really, darling, you cheat? I find that hard to believe,” Rarity said, smiling.

“It's true. I did cheat. I'm not proud of it, and I don’t recommend doing it. Getting caught by Vice Principal Luna is, well,” Sunset folded her arms over her chest, “not fun, to say the least. She put me in detention for two weeks. Believe me when I say she's a harsh taskmaster.”

“Ohohohoh, my turn, my turn, my turn.” Pinkie bounced up and down excitedly, placing a pink hand on the bottle and giving it a hard spin, “I can’t wait to see what I am going to be dar--”

The bottle spun and pointed at Sunset, who quirked a eyebrow to Pinkie. Pinkie giggled back. As Sunset weighed her options, she looked from Pinkie to Rainbow and back as she said, “Truth or dare, Pinkie?”

“Dare!" Pinkie squealed excitedly "I'm pretty sure I can take any dare you that you got cooked up.”

“Is that so? Well if you insist, then alright, but remember, you asked for this.” With a mischievous smile on her face, Sunset continued, “I dare you to eat a single Carolina Reaper without any milk or other form of liquid while eating them.”

Pinkie's eyes narrowed, and she smiled just as mischievously as Sunset was. She got up, headed into the kitchen, opened up Rarity's refrigerator, and let out loud whine when she didn’t find the peppers within. Returning to her friends, she plopped down next to Rarity, her hair deflating as she said, “Awwww, I was hoping to take Sunny up on that challenge too. I bet I could have done it. No peppers, no challenge. Now what am I gonna do to show off my mad pepper-eating skills?”

Sunset giggled, saying as she smiled apologetically to Pinkie, “Would it be alright with all of you if I have her do something else for the dare? I mean, she's right. Without any peppers, there's no way she can do this.”

“Darling, Pinkie didn’t look in the right place. I would not keep such,” Rarity cleared her throat, “items where my sister can get a hold of them and try to get her friends to eat them. I like a good, spicy style of Italian food every now and then. I keep such peppers around the house for such an occasion. I know where they are, and I’ll get them.”

Everyone looked at her, then back at Sunset as Applejack said, “Well, Sunset, it looks like Rarity'll be able ta help you out on that dare.” Looking back at Rarity, she continued, “But Rarity, are ya sure ya want us all ta know what you have in that, um, area of your house?”

Rarity realized the implication right away and cleared her throat again as she said, “Well, uh, darling, you are the only other person that knows what is in that, uh, area of my home. So, how about you and I go get the peppers and then bring them back here?”

Rainbow, thinking she understood the implications herself, said, “Uh, Rarity, when did you and Applejack start going out? I mean, it's really cool that you two are dating and all, how long have you been keeping it from us?”

“Darling, Applejack and I aren’t dating. She's always been willing to sit with me and let me vent and tell her all my problems. She's my confidant, not my girlfriend, and the 'area' we're talking about is simply my personal sanctum. I don't like it disturbed, is all.” With that, she got up and headed out of the living room and down into the basement, returning a few moments later with a big jar of red peppers in her hands.

Everyone laughed as she sat back down, smiling forgivingly at Rainbow, who was blushing at her misunderstanding. Sunset took the jar, pulled out a pepper, and handed it to Pinkie. Before Pinkie could bite into it, everyone heard a loud ringing coming from upstairs. Sunset shook her head as she said, “Worst timing ever! Whoever that is, they--” She stopped when she heard “Incoming call from the Cakes” chime out from her backpack.

Sunset jumped to her feet, ran upstairs, grabbed her phone, and pressed the answer button.

“Hello, Mr. Cake, I am so very sorry I didn’t call you to let you know where I was. I know I'm supposed to check in when I'm out. Please don’t be mad at me. I won’t let this happen again, I swear.”

“Whoa, there, Sunset, calm down. Take a breath.” Sunset breathed in through her nose and out through her mouth. “Good. Now, it's alright. You're allowed to make mistakes every now and then. We all do it. Just so long as you learn from them and don’t repeat them, there won't be a problem. Now, as for why I'm calling, I was wondering if you'd be able to make a delivery for me?”

“A delivery? Sure thing. Where to and to whom?”

“I was hoping you could bring some doughnuts and a cake to the mall for me. I'm running behind on deliveries and need some help. I was really hoping this could be done today before two thirty. There is a little flower shop run by a ‘Daisy Green’. She ordered these items, and I don’t have time to drop them off.”

Sunset pulled the phone away from her ear, looked at the time, then placed the phone back to her ear again, saying, “Sure thing, Mr. Cake. Leave them on the counter. I’ll leave right now and take care of this. Oh, I was wondering. When I get home tonight, could I talk to you and Mrs. Cake about something?”

“Of course. You know you can always talk to us about anything, Sunset. We won’t hold anything back from you.”

“I know. I’ll see you in about forty-five minutes.”

“Okay, sounds good. And thank you, Sunset. This really means a lot to me.”

“You're welcome, Mr. Cake.”

Sunset hung up the phone, sighed, then picked up her backpack, slung it over her shoulder, and headed downstairs. She set it down in the kitchen, saying to her friends as she looked at all of them, “Girls, I am so very, very sorry to do this to you all, but I need to go. The Cakes need me to deliver some things for them. Pinkie, I'm really sor--”

“Darling, don’t worry about it. We all understand,” Rarity interrupted. “I wasn't really looking forward to seeing Pinkie eating that pepper anyway. I hope you have good time.”

“Thanks, Rarity,” Sunset replied pulling her right boot on. “I'll make this up to you.” She looked up as she picked up her left boot. “To all of you, I promise I'll make this up to you.”

“There's no need to do that, Sunset. In fact, why don’t we go with you and help you with yer delivery. Maybe we can see a movie while we're all out,” Applejack chimed in, smiling warmly to her friend.

“R-Really? You all don’t mind helping me?”

“Of course not. Besides we wouldn’t be very good friends if we didn’t help out every now and then, don’t you think, Sunset?” Fluttershy whispered out, “As long as we don’t see anything scary, I'm up for a movie. Besides, it's getting a little stuffy in here, and some fresh air might do us all some good.”

“While I would love to go with you, darlings, I must stay here to make sure Sweetie Belle stays in her room. Teenagers can be such a bother sometimes.”

Sunset looked at Rarity, then smiled and said, “Hey, don’t sweat it, Rarity. She'll come around sooner or later. She can’t stay mad at you forever, and I'm sure she knows you're only looking out for her best interests.”

“So, where are we going?” Rainbow asked, getting up from the floor and helping Pinkie up, “I mean, it's Sunday, after all. Not much is open today.”

“We need to go to the mall and drop off some doughnuts and a cake for someone called Daisy Green.”

Rainbow's eyes widened. She looked at Sunset, who had noticed the worried look on her face as Rainbow stuttered out, “D-Daisy Green? Sunset, w-we can’t go there.”

“Why not?”
“Because of Gilda Griffon.” Rainbow looked down as she continued, “She's the reason we can’t, or shouldn’t, go there.”

“Okay, still not really understanding why I can’t make this run for the Cakes. Who's Gilda Griffon, and what does she have to do with Daisy Green?”

“Trust me, you don’t wanna know. Let's just say she makes your bullying days look like playground teasing.”

“I see. Well, with that in mind, I won’t press any further, but I do need to take care of this. So, how about I head into the mall and make the delivery while you four can stay out in the food court and wait for me? That way, if Gilda's there, and there are any signs of trouble, you’ll have a way out of it. I hope.”

“Alright. Just promise me you’ll be careful with what you say around her if you meet her. I have a picture of what she looks like, but it's from three years ago, so it might not be very accurate,” Rainbow stated as she reached into her back pocket, taking out the old photo. Looking back up, she saw a look of concern on Sunset’s face. “Don't get the wrong idea. I don't wanna date her. It's a reminder. I don’t really wanna talk about it.”

“I understand. I'm sorry if I made you uncomfortable, Rainbow.”

“No, it's alright. You would've found out about her sooner or later, and now is as a good a time as any to at least know what she looks like, I guess.”

Rainbow handed the picture over to Sunset. Sunset looked at it and saw a young woman in her early teens with a white Mohawk, a brown, leather flight jacket, and a scar under her right eye. The look Gilda had in the picture could have frozen hell over ten times. Sunset handed the photo back to Rainbow, finished getting ready, and headed outside, with everyone else following her except for Rarity.

As Rarity locked the door behind Rainbow, who was the last one out, she simply shook her head, saying to herself, “I really do hope that horrible Gilda Griffon doesn’t try to hurt Rainbow again. It was bad enough when she put Rainbow in the hospital." Biting her lip, she finished, "I hope Sunset knows what she's doing. That Gilda can be a real handful.”

Next Chapter: Delivery (Edited by Icecreammac) Estimated time remaining: 19 Hours, 36 Minutes