Sunset was just waking up in her new bed. The previous night had been the best night of her life. After Pinkie waved her goodbyes to her and skipped happily down the street towards home, Sunset had headed upstairs to start packing her belongings, which were not much. Mr. and Mrs. Cake had come back and went upstairs to help Sunset pack as well. After that, it was a short drive to her new home.

Sunset stretched, looked around, and smiled, saying to herself, “I can’t believe I have a new family.” She got up and headed to the shower to begin her day. She recalled as she turned the water on and got in that sometime while Mrs. and Mr. Cake were helping her pack, they found her on the second to last step, looking at the crystal she kept hidden away under the step.

Sunset had said as she looked up to them both, “Is there someplace else that I can hide this until I'm ready to tell my friends about it?” She looked back down at the box in her hands. “I'm afraid that it might cause more trouble here than it's worth.”

The Cakes both had smiled to her warmly, and Mr. Cake had said, “Of course there is. I have a small but useful office safe in my study at home. You can use that. I’ll even give you the code to it as well.”

Satisfied, Sunset recalled nodding and heading to the car with the Cakes in tow. Getting out of the shower and drying off, her reminiscing finished, she got dressed and headed downstairs to eat breakfast. Mr. Cake was already in the kitchen making coffee, and he offered her a cup when he saw her. Sunset took the cup and sat down at the kitchen table, letting out sigh of pure contentment. She had a family, a roof over her head, friends that loved her, and safe place to sleep at night. Everything felt right with the world. Once she was done with breakfast, Mr. Cake said to her warmly, “Get your coat and backpack, Sunset. I’ll drive you to school.”

Sunset got up, walked out of the kitchen, then turned around and came back in, hugging Mr. Cake tightly around his shoulders, saying to him, “Thanks,” she giggled lightly, “Dad, and thank you for adopting me. It feels so good to have a family again.” With that, Sunset ended the embrace and got her things. A few moments later, the two were on their way to CHS.

---

Rarity and Sweetie Belle were just entering CHS. It was early in the morning, and only a few of the faculty were in the school at the time. Rarity looked at her watch. It read 6:30 am. She headed to her locker to put her things away. Other than the scarce faculty, the few students in the school were the science and art students trying to get ahead on their projects or trying to earn extra credit.

Sweetie Belle moaned out while wiping away the sleep in her eyes, “Rarity, why are we here so early? There's, like, no one here!”

Rarity was about to answer when both girls heard from behind them, “Howdy, Rarity. Ah got yer text last night. The girls are waitin' fer ya in the cafeteria.”

Turning around, Rarity saw that Applejack was standing behind her, though the farmer looked more upset than happy to see her. Rarity turned to her sister. Taking out her sister's phone, she handed it to Sweetie Belle, saying, “Sweetie Belle, if I give you back your phone--just for today, mind you--will you promise to stay out of trouble and not to bother me.”

Sweetie Belle took her phone, nodded her reply, and was just about to leave when Applejack said to her, “Yer friends're waitin' for ya in the music room. Apple Bloom said somethin' about wantin' ta chat with ya.”

“Thanks, Applejack. And Rarity,” Sweetie Belle said, “I promise you I won’t get into any trouble today.”

“That's good to hear, darling. Now, you go hang out with your friends. I have some,” Rarity looked at Applejack, then back to her sister, clearing her throat, “adult things to talk about with Applejack. I expect you to be outside after school. Remember, you're still grounded.”

Sweetie Belle nodded then headed for the music room, while Applejack walked with Rarity to the cafeteria. “Rarity,” Applejack began as they entered the cafeteria, “If yer sister's grounded, why'd ya giver her her phone?”

Rarity smirked slightly, “I gave my sister her phone today to 1) keep her out of my hair," her smirk vanished, and she gazed downward, "and 2) to give us the time that we need to talk about Sunset’s photos winding up on MyStable.”

“You think Sunset's behind this?” a voice called out to her from a nearby table. Looking to the voice, Rarity saw Rainbow Dash, Pinkie, and Fluttershy at their normal table. As Rarity and Applejack got up to the table, Rarity noticed Rainbow glaring at her. “How could you think Sunset did this? I mean, I saw the photos, and sure, it's weird that she's not in any of them, but I'm positive that Sunset didn't do it.”

Applejack and Rarity both sat down at the table. After a pause, Rarity said, “Darling, you need to understand. That picture online, as well as the other ones from last night, were all taken with Sunset's phone.”

“So what?” Rainbow exclaimed, throwing her arms out. “That doesn’t prove a damn thing.”

“Now just simmer down there a little, Rainbow. We all know that ya care deeply for Sunset and that ya don’t want her ta be guilty o' this,” Applejack said. “Ah want her ta be innocent, too, but Ah can’t deny what Ah saw.”

“Look, there is no way that Sunset--”

“Dashy," Pinkie interrupted, "I saw her phone hooked up to her computer. All those pictures were on the computer."

Rainbow’s eyes widened. Looking down and rubbing the back of her neck, she said, “She couldn’t have done this.”

“Darling, I-I'm sorry, but we all know how Sunset was before Twilight came. Right now, it looks like she did this.”

Rainbow looked back up, her eyes filled with anger, “I trusted her. Hell, I even slept with her. How could she break my heart like this?”

“YOU WHAT?” Rarity exclaimed, shocked. “Darling, when did this happen?”

“What's the big deal? Sunset was having a nightmare, so I stayed with her until she fell asleep. Besides, that's not the problem here. The problem is that Sunset betrayed us, and we need to find out why.”

“Perhaps when we blasted her with rainbow energy at the Fall Formal, we didn’t really change her. Maybe she's just been waiting to get close enough to us to steal our secrets from us,” Fluttershy meekly squeaked out.

Pinkie's hair deflated. She looked down at the table, wiping away a tear from her eyes. She said, “I even helped her with her homework. And to think that the Cakes want to adopt her.”

“Whoa, what?” Rainbow asked, “Why would anyone want to adopt her after something like this?”

“I doubt the Cakes even know she did this to us,” Rarity interjected. “I don’t want Sunset to be guilty, either, but we need to look at the evidence. The pictures came from her phone. She was the only one that was actually taking pictures that night, and now those pictures are on MyStable. Applejack told Sunset about her family nickname, and that, too, is on MyStable. In fact,” Rarity placed a finger to her chin, tapping it a few times, “Applejack's nickname showed up a day or so after our sleepover at Pinkie's.”

“We need to call her, ask her where she is right now, and get to the bottom of this,” Rainbow snarled out bitterly. “If she is guilty, I'll make her pay for breaking our hearts.”

“Y'all can talk to her if ya wanna,” Applejack chimed in. “As fer me, Ah'm gonna ask her flat out why she did this to us.”

The girls continued to argue among themselves for another half-hour, each getting more and more worked up. After a while, Rarity stepped away from the table. Taking out her phone, she called up Sunset and waited for a few moments for Sunset to answer. It wasn't long before Sunset answered, "Hi, Rarity."

“Where are you right now, Sunset?”

“Uh, We are just getting to Fifth and Seventh street now Rarity. Mr., er, I mean, Dad is driving me to school today. Why do you ask?”

“We need to talk,” Rarity replied sternly. “Meet us at your locker when you get to school.”

“You sound upset. Is there something wrong?”

Rarity heard Mr. Cake in the background tell Sunset to buckle her seat belt. She swallowed hard before replying, “Like I said, we need to talk. How soon can you get here?”

“I think dad will be able to drop me off in about twenty minutes, depending on traffic that is. What's wrong?”

Rarity didn’t reply. She hung up, headed back to the table, and looked at her friends. Fluttershy looked like she was about to break down and start crying. Pinkie's hair was completely deflated, a look of pure, seething anger on her face. Applejack looked more worried than upset. And Rainbow looked like she was ready to strangle Sunset at first sight. Rarity put her phone into her purse, saying as she looked at her friends, “I called Sunset. She will be here soon and will meet us at her locker. We can confront her there.” Everyone got up and headed towards Sunset's locker. No one said anything on the way there.

Apple Bloom was just coming out of the music room when she saw her sister and her friends coming down the hallway. It didn't take a genius to guess what was about to happen. Wanting to show her friends that their plan worked, she ducked back into the room, took out her phone, and set it to video record.

Finally at their destination, each of Sunset's friends stood by her locker and waited for Sunset to show to up.

Next Chapter: So There's This Girl (Edited by Icecreammac) Estimated time remaining: 18 Hours, 18 Minutes