Rarity made her way down the hallway to Principal Celestia’s office, head down in trepidation for the scolding she was sure to receive, which caused her to miss Sunset dashing right past her down the hallway. Getting to the office, Rarity knocked on the door, hearing from behind it, “Come in, please.”

Opening the door, Rarity saw her father and Mr. Cake both sitting in front of Celestia’s desk. Principal Celestia looked up at her, motioning for Rarity to enter. Rarity quickly took a seat next to her father, hanging her head low.

“Now that we are all here,” Principal Celestia began coolly with a slight hint of anger in her normally regal voice, “I would like to ask you a question, Miss Belle.”

Rarity looked up, saying softly, “Alright.”

“Sunday evening, before Sunset left your home, did you or did you not give her a bottle of wine and Scotch to take home with her?”

Rarity gulped, thinking to herself, “Sunset couldn’t have drunk all of that liquor by herself, could she?” Looking to her father, she saw only anger coming from him. Turning back to face Celestia, Rarity saw only sadness in her principal’s eyes, causing her to look down. “Y-Yes, I gave those items to her, but I--”

“How could you do something so stupid!?” Rarity looked at her father, who glared at her as he continued, “Do you have any idea of the trouble that you have brought to our family, Rarity?”

“But, Father, I was--”

“Miss Belle,” Carrot began coldly, looking down at Celestia’s desk, “What you have just admitted to only confirms what I've been afraid of.”

“And what would that be, Mr. Cake?” Rarity asked with a slightly worried look on her face.

“I have come to fear that you are not and have never been the friend that my daughter so greatly defended to us this morning.”

Getting up, Celestia said coldly to Rarity, “Miss Belle, this is a very serious problem. You are very lucky nothing serious happened to Miss Shimmer last night.” Sitting back down and interlocking her fingers together, Celestia continued, “Rest assured, there will be consequences for what you have done.”

Rarity opened her mouth to say something, but her father cut her off, almost growling, “You have acted very shamefully. Sunset was a guest in our house trying to make amends for something that I am convinced she didn’t do. And how do you treat her? You spend the entire night insulting her, and then you give her alcohol when I specifically told you not to do so. And let's not forget that she's underage! Do you have any idea how dangerous that was, Rarity?”

“But, Father, her photo made me the laughing stock of the entire school!”

“Miss Belle,” Mr. Cake began, nearly wanting to strangle Rarity, “I don’t give a wet skunk's ass as to what you think my daughter has done or has not done. You should've been the bigger person and refused to allow those comments to affect you. No matter where you are in life, there will always be people who will make fun of you. The best thing to do is move on and refuse to let it hurt you. The worst thing to do is be petty and commit a crime that could seriously hurt someone!”

Rarity, not liking where the conversation was going, spat back, “But she attacked Pinkie and Rainbow, as well as--”

“Enough!” Celestia snarled as she continued, “While I don't condone violence, especially in school, it's about time Sunset stood up to you and to your friends, Miss Belle, friends that should have been by her side and should have been helping her to deal with this rather than turning against her, as you all have done.”

“B-But I--” Rarity stammered, “She, I mean, I--”

Mr. Cake got up from his chair, causing Rarity to end her blubbering. “I wanted to give my daughter a chance to make things right with you and your friends, but I can see that isn’t going to happen.”

“So it’s true, then? When Sunset said that you're going to pull her from school?” Rarity said, looking down as tears began to fall down her cheeks as she finally started to see the consequences of all she's done. “Please, give us one more chance to make this right! I swear, we--”

“Why should I give any of you the chance to make this worse for her! Give me one good reason why I should do that, Miss Belle!”

Looking up into his eyes as Mr. Cake stared her down, Rarity sniffed, saying as her tears fell freely down her cheeks, “I can’t. I can't think of any good reason.” Looking down, she continued, “No, I need to make this right with her. If you pull her from school, then my friends and I won’t be able to do that.”

“Carrot,” Celestia began calmly, “I can help them make this right. Perhaps I can set up a meeting place for all the girls to get together. Then, we can let Sunset say her piece and perhaps put this behind us.”

Mr. Cake replied bitterly, “Celestia, I like you and your sister a lot. Your family has been very good to mine. But I'm sorry, I don't think that's a good idea. I think Sunset's been through enough.”

“But are you sure pulling her out is the only way? I'm sure that if you give me time, I can--”

“Time!?” Mr. Cake spat, nearly screaming, “You've had all the fucking time in the world to take care of this mess and have done nothing, I'm sorry to say. My daughter has cried more times than I can count, and plenty of those times were because of this girl and her damn friends. They all promised Twilight to take care of my daughter, to teach her how to be a good friend.” Locking eyes with Celestia, Mr. Cake continued, “Well, we both know that was nothing more than a lie told by five brats that wouldn’t know the first fucking thing about friendship. So, yes, Celestia, I will be taking my daughter out of this damn school and starting someplace away from this mess where she can get the help she needs.” Mr. Cake spun on his heel before Celestia could stop him and left her office.

---

Spike pawed desperately at the front door, trying to get in, not noticing a girl with grey skin and bright-yellow hair coming up behind him. She knelt down and picked him up, causing Spike to let out a yelp of shock.

“How did you get stuck out here, doggy? Where are your owners?” A bubbly voice asked, and Spike felt the voice's owner nuzzle him with her cheek. “Come on, let's get you inside. I can take you to Fluttershy. She should be able to help you.”

Spike, hearing he was about to go see Fluttershy and knowing she could help him, let out a happy bark, causing the girl to laugh. Opening the door and walking into the school, the girl said happily to him, “My name is Derpy Hooves. I think I’ll call you Barky.”

Spike whimpered at this but did little else while Derpy held him in her arms, making her way down the hallway towards Fluttershy’s locker. Seeing Fluttershy limping through the hallway a few moments later, Derpy set Spike down and rushed over to her saying, “Oh, Fluttershy! What happened to you?”

“I was--” Fluttershy stopped mid-sentence when she saw Spike running towards her. “SPIKE!” Falling to her butt, Fluttershy held out her arms to him, letting the purple dog jump into her arms. “Oh, Spike, I am so happy to see you.” Getting up as Spike jumped about happily, Fluttershy continued softly, “I need to get something from Vinyl's locker before going to Principal Celestia’s office, Spike. This will only take a minute.”

Getting to Vinyl's locker a few moments later with Derpy's help, Fluttershy unlocked the locker and took out the folder inside. Opening it up, she saw it was a police report detailing a rape that took place two years ago. After reading the entire file and seeing the names of the victim and the perpetrator, Fluttershy was left speechless and horrified. Derpy, who had read the file over Fluttershy's shoulder, said sullenly, “Come on, let's get you two to Principal Celestia’s office. You can show this to her.”

“Alright.” Looking to Spike, who sat down with his ears drooping low, Fluttershy continued, “Come on, Spike. We need to get this file to Celestia and warn her about what the Stallions are planning.”

On the way to the office, Fluttershy filled Spike in on what was happening at CHS, and Spike filled Fluttershy in as to what happened in Equestria.

“So Twilight won’t be coming through the portal, then?” Fluttershy asked sadly. “We could really use her help right now.”

“I know, Fluttershy, but let's get to Principals Celestia’s office first so we can deal with the Stallion brothers.”

“Alright.”

Finally reaching Celestia's office, Derpy was about to open the door for Fluttershy, when they heard, “Young lady, as of right now, you are grounded. No recreational computer or phone use, and your sewing room is off-limits until I say otherwise. Do you fully understand me?”

“Yes, Father, I do.”

Not wanting to waste any more time, Fluttershy mustered up her courage and walked into Principal Celestia's office without knocking.

Principal Celestia looked up at her, saying, “Uh, yes, Miss Shy? Is there something I can help you with?”

“Yes. I think Sunset is in danger. I overheard the Stallion brothers a little while ago. They're planning on hurting Sunset.”

Standing up from her desk, Celestia grabbed a nearby walky-talky, saying to Rarity, “Miss Belle, return to class, please, then report to detention hall 106 after school.” Looking to Fluttershy, she conintuned, “Miss Shy, I want you to stay here. I will deal with this matter.” Noticing the file in Fluttershy’s hand, Celestia said, “What is that file, Miss Shy?”

“It's on Vinyl Scratch. It's...It's awful.”

“I see.” Celestia took the file from Fluttershy, read through part of it, then set it down on her desk. Taking out her phone, she dialed Brushed Jade's number. While waiting for Jade to pick up, Celestia continued, “Alright, Mr. Belle, I believe this concludes our meeting. While I agree with you that Rarity should be punished for what she did, are you sure you want me to go through with this?”

“I am. I want my daughter in detention and out of all school activities for the next ten months. I also want her removed from any and all fashion shows that your school might be putting on.” Seeing that Rarity was about to say something, Mr. Belle quickly said to her, “Don’t even think of protesting, young lady. You are lucky that this all you have to face. You could be in jail for what you did to Sunset. As a member of the Belle family, you will take this punishment without complaint. Do you fully understand me, young lady!”

Rarity gulped, then nodded. Getting up, she said to Fluttershy, “I am sorry, dear, but I won’t be able to help you make that dress you wanted for a while.”

“It's alright, Rarity. We can make it some other time.”

Rarity left the office, leaving a very confused Fluttershy to look at Mr. Belle, asking softly, “What happened? It sounded serious.”

“Rarity got Sunset Shimmer drunk, which led to other issues. I am very happy to hear that Sunset made it through the night safely. She could have frozen to death last night due to what my daughter did to her.” Looking down, he continued, “I know you think that grounding her for ten months and placing her into detention is harsh, Miss Shy, but please look at it from my point of view. Sunset got liquor from my home, liquor that, in her state of mind, could have done some really awful things to her. I don’t think putting Rarity into detention for ten months is too harsh, not when you consider the potential ramifications of what she did.”

Celestia, having connected with Brushed Jade, said, “Jade, I need you here right now. We've got some critical information that I can't discuss over the phone but does involve the police.”

Celestia hung up, then left her office to go find Sunset and the Stallion brothers. Mr. Belle left as well, leaving Fluttershy, Spike and Derpy behind to wonder to what to do next. Turing to face Celestia’s desk, Fluttershy picked up the file, then hobbled out of the office with Spike in tow. Derpy started to follow but quickly got distracted and headed off in another direction, leaving Fluttershy and Spike to find Sunset on their own.

Next Chapter: Battle for Apple Bloom (Edited by Icecreammac) Estimated time remaining: 13 Hours, 49 Minutes