It was after school and the Rainbooms were spread out in the band practice room, hot in debate.

“I just can’t shake the feeling that it’s an awful idea.”

“It’ll be fine, Rarity.”

“Nah, Sunset, I gotta agree with her, it’s pretty lame.”

“Oh leave it, Rainbow.”

“Won’t they have something against us because of the Friendship Games?”

“Fluttershy, I’m sure they won’t, they’re more mature than that.”

“Ah’ dunno, I reck-”

“Look, if everyone has such a problem with this then we don’t have to go! I’m not forcing you into this!” Sunset snapped.

The group all inched back from her.

Sunset was pitching her idea for a playdate between the Wondercolts and Shadowbolts to her friends, and to say things weren’t going as smoothly as she’d have liked would have been a pretty accurate statement.

It was a week after her chance encounter with Sunny and she still couldn’t get the image of her father out of her mind. Each morning she’d rush to school with bags under her eyes from being kept up all night by her theorizing. But even after her hours of guesswork, it had remained exactly that: guesswork. She simply could not figure out what was happening without more information.

“All I’m saying is,” Rainbow perked up again, “we didn’t give the Dazzlings a second chance.”

Sunset had neglected to tell them her real reason for wanting to meet up with the Shadowbolts, or Sunny Flare specifically, but found their reasoning about the situation quite frustrating.

“That’s because they were evil, Rainbow, not just misguided. These were Twilight’s friends! Twilight, they weren’t evil were they?”

Twilight didn’t answer immediately. Instead she gave a small wince and shook her hand, indicating the answer wasn’t going to be in her favor.

“Ehhh,” Sunset waved Twilight off. “The point is, this will be good for everyone! I bet you’ll all have loads in common with them!”

Rainbows face clearly disagreed with her, but reluctantly the girl fell silent.

Sunset turned to Twilight.

“Twilight and I have already arranged something. Whitetail Wood, today after school. I didn’t say how many people were coming, so not all of you need to be there. But it’s only fair that we offer them the same second chance you guys offered me.”

Rainbow scoffed.

“You were different! We totally don’t owe them anything, you can count me out.”

“Rainbow Dash,” Sunset growled.

“What?!”

Sunset waved her off.

“Fine, whatever. So Rainbow’s out. Anyone else coming?”

Applejack stepped forward.

“Ah’m sorry, sugarcube, but the only thing we know about these fellas is how awful they were to Twilight, they really ain’t give us no reason to give ‘em a chance.”

“I think, as well,” Fluttershy spoke up for the first time, “with something like this, peoples’ nerves get to them. Meeting a full group of people we don’t know is awfully different from taking one girl in like we did with you.”

Sunset sighed.

“So that’s a no from both of you?”

Applejack nodded firmly while Fluttershy sank away from her disappointed gaze.

“Sunset, darling,” Rarity interjected quickly. “I have to agree with Applejack… or, ahem, while I don’t agree that the girls don’t deserve a second chance, I definitely think some caution should be exercised. You demonstrated a wanting to change, but everything we know about these girls just… well… indicates they aren’t very nice people. We can't go accepting in every mean person we meet on the street.”

Sunset scoffed.

“Why are you guys so against this?”

“Why are you so adamant about it!?” Rainbow Dash shot back.

“Because this is what we do! We’re all about friendship and magic!”

“Our friendship!” Rainbow gestured to the group. “I don’t give a damn about anyone else!”

“Rainbow Dash!” Rarity turned to her.

“What?” Rainbow sneered.

“Not wanting to meet up with a group of bullies is one thing, but I’d hardly say our friendship is exclusive to our group!" Rarity stressed. "We’re friendly girls, all of us are, but it’s not like we isolate ourselves from others.”

“Well it’s certainly what you guys are doing right now,” Sunset said bluntly.

Applejack rolled her eyes.

“Pinkie Pie, you haven’t said anything?”

Pinkie Pie, who up until this point had sat in silence watching her friends exchange points, perked up.

“Well…” She winced. “Like Applejack said, if it was anyone else you guys know I would be positively absolutely be a hundred and ten percent up for making new friends! But these guys have been kinda mean to us… I just don’t think we should do anything they wouldn’t be willing to do for us. If they were sorry for the way they were towards us, you’d have thought they would have apologized by now…”

Sunset shook her head with a sigh.

“You guys are meant to be the Elements of Harmony.”

“Our ponyselves were the Elements,” Rainbow stated. “If we had some legal requirement to make the world a better place than sure, but we don’t, we’re just teenagers. I really don’t see why any of us should go out of our way for some girls who clearly don’t give a damn about us.”

Rarity jumped in before Sunset could respond.

“Okay, that's enough. Whether or not we’re the Elements of Harmony, we are friends and this isn’t something we should let escalate into an argument.”

The group relaxed their shoulders and fell silent. Rarity turned to Sunset.

“You’re still going with or without us, I presume?”

Sunset nodded.

“Right, then I think we have a opportunity to compromise. One thing we I'm sure we can agree on is if they come to us and showed a willingness to make up for how they were to us, we’d be a lot more open to the idea of meeting up with them, yes?”

“I guess.”

“Yes.”

“Aye.”

“Yep.”

“Okay then. So if Sunset meets up with these girls and they aren’t as bad as we think they are, then I think as good people and, as Sunset said, people with a reputation for being all about friendship, then we should give them a chance. If they want the help we should give it to them. We just... don’t know right now if they want the help.”

Sunset smiled, sensing a feeling of relief wash over her.

“Thank you, Rarity.”

Rarity turned to her.

“You have our blessing, but you be careful with them, Sunset Shimmer. The second they say anything mean or derogatory you let one of us know and we’ll be there pronto.”

“To give them a good butt-kickin!’ ” Rainbow exclaimed.

“Yes, erm, that,” Rarity smiled.

An hour had passed and Sunset Shimmer and Twilight Sparkle found themselves alone in a cold gazebo. The Whitetail Woods was conveniently halfway between Crystal Prep and Canterlot High, making it a good spot to meet up with Twilight's old friends. The plan had been to meet here and then head onto further activities, but a sudden heavy rain looked like that might not be an option.

Thunder struck in the distance, causing the two girls to shift in closer together.

“Well, this is off to a great start,” Sunset said begrudgingly.

Twilight sighed heavily.

“Do you think we should call them and cancel? They were already supposed to be here by now...”

Sunsets shook her head, “No it’s fine, they shouldn’t be too far away. We can always all go somewhere drier when they get here.”

“If they get here.”

“You really think they might not show?”

“I don’t know… you spoke to Sunny Flare, did she sound positive about it?”

“I couldn’t really tell over text,” Sunset thought a little. “Is she the kind of person to stand someone up?”

Twilight shrugged.

“Not usually… but then again, I didn’t really know her that well. She was usually the one making plans.”

It was okay. This could still work. She would make it still work.

It wasn't ideal, she was well aware. The reason she wanted them to meet in a large group was so that she and Sunny Flare could spend some alone time together, it now wouldn't be as easy with all the Shadowbolts attention on her.

Mentally, Sunset had a checklist prepared of the stuff she wanted to ask her about Sunny's family background. She made special care to make sure it wasn't anything wouldn't come up naturally in conversation. She had decided to take the quantity approach as opposed to quality; she would try and find out as much generic information for her investigation as she could instead of focusing all of her attention on one aspect. That way she could cover a large amount of ground without… ahem… scaring her away.

But this was all of course, relying on the hope she actually turned up.

“Sunset Shimmer?” A third voice entered the gazebo.

Almost magically on cue, Sunset and Twilight turned to see Sunny stood in the doorway, with a handful of the Crystal Prep girls stood behind her.

“Sunny Flare!” Sunset said a little too eagerly.

Sunny dropped her umbrella, smiled and stepped inside.

“Hey...” she noticed the number of the girls, “oh, we er, kinda expected more of you guys.”

“Oh, they didn’t wa-”

“They didn’t really feel like coming after such a long day,” Sunset interrupted Twilight. “In school, I mean.”

As Sunny Flare moved inside, the other girls made their way in also. Unless Sunset’s memory failed her, not all of the group they competed against at the Games was here, but taking a scan over the girls, the ones who had turned up definitely seemed familiar to her.

“Sunset, this is Sugarcoat, Sour Sweet and Lemon Zest, you’ve all met before,” Sunny gestured a hand to each of her friends.

Sunset smiled at the girls and offered a friendly wave, “Hey! I’m sorry we didn’t get chance to properly hang out during the Friendship Games.”

The girl Sunset recognized as Sour Sweet scoffed.

“Oh, don’t worry about it! We should be the ones who are sorry!”

She swore she heard the girl mumble something under her breath after that, but didn’t quite catch what it was.

“Where’s Indigo?” Twilight asked.

“She didn’t want to come,” the one who was obviously Sugarcoat said quite blankly.

“Ah.”

It was not lost on Sunset that Twilight had yet to greet her old friends with a hug, smile or any kind of traditional friendly greeting. Instead, she had remained routed to her spot and shifted around uncomfortably.

“Yanno it’s a bit suspicious that out of your friendship group only two of you could be bothered coming to meet us. Actually kind of offensive,” Sugarcoat added, cocking her hip.

Sunset went to leap to her friends defense but was beaten to it by Sunny Flare.

“Sugarcoat.”

Sugarcoat merely rolled her eyes and crossed her arms.

Sunny Flare turned to the Sunset and Twilight.

“She’s only joking. It’s good to see you again Twilight. How’ve you been?”

“Yes.”

“Yes?”

“Ahh-! I mean, I’ve been well, thank you. A-and yourself?”

“I’ve been good,” Sunny smirked, seemingly amused by Twilight’s awkward behavior. “Shame about the weather though, forecast said it was going be dry.”

“I kinda like it!” Sunset said, “Rain always was my aesthetic. But this cold isn’t great, we could try and find somewhere more warm if you guys want?”

“We can’t stay long, actually,” Sugarcoat said quick and matter-of-factly.

“Oh, I’m sorry… If you guys have other plans you don’t have to stay,” Sunset suddenly felt a heavy weight on her.

Sunny, seemingly noticing Sunset’s uncomfort at this, merely waved her friend off.

“We’re fine for staying, Sugarcoat is just shy.”

“I am not shy.”

“She just doesn’t like meeting new people.”

“I do too!”

“Then why don’t you introduce yourself properly and stop being such a baby?”

Sugarcoat gave a loud ‘hmph!’ and crossed her arms, turning away from Sunset. It didn't do anything to settle Sunset’s nerves.

She had definitely accounted for the atmosphere being awkward, but ideally, that's what she was bringing her friends over for. Having a large group of them would not only ease the tension but provide a good distraction for the other girls while she got to spend time with Sunny Flare. Thinking about it, they probably would have come along with her if she was honest about her intentions.

But, she’d come this far and wasn’t about to give up now.

“So!” she clapped her hands together, startling the girls. “What is it you guys normally do outside school?”

Quick as a beat, Sugarcoat responded.

“I play World of Warcraft.”

Sunset nodded. “That’s cool, me and the girls have Dungeons and Dragons nights sometimes! Maybe we could all go back to mine and have a game?”

“Why would we do that?”

“Because… it’s similar? And something to get us out of the rain?”

“World of Warcraft is an online RPG, DnD is tabletop RPG, gameplay-wise they’re completely different.”

“Sugarcoat!” Sunny Flare snapped again.

Sugarcoat held her arms up defensively.

“Not my fault she’s trying to start a conversation about stuff she clearly doesn’t know about...”

The glare sent to her from Sunny Flare was enough to make Sugarcoat fall silent.

“Oh! I erm, do a few different sports,” Sour Sweet interjected. “I come from a military family, so like, I do horse-riding, shooting, archery... If it wasn’t raining I’d say we could have gone down to the range, you seemed pretty skilled with a bow during the Friendship Games. Hehe… erm…” Sour turned to Twilight, “sorry for shouting at you, then, by the way. No offence.”

Twilight smiled politely.

“None taken.”

“But yeah we could, I don’t know, maybe look for a bowling ring? Something to do inside? Swimming works too? I mean, I don’t have anything to change into, but we’re all girls, I’m sure we wouldn’t mind swimming in our undies?” Sour Sweet laughed.

An air of silence hung over the group for a second.

“Don’t think we’re quite there yet, Sour Sweet,” Sunny Flare told her friend.

Sour huffed.

“Not like I wanted to go swimming anyway.”

“I’m a Soundcloud artist,” Lemon Zest said out nowhere, still not having taking off her headphones. “We could all go back to mine, listen to some tunes?”

Sugarcoat sneered. “Why would anyone wanna do that?”

Sunny Flare groaned.

“At least she’s making a contribution, Sugarcoat!”

“Yeah!” Lemon Zest groaned, “So just shut up being negative!”

“Why don’t you come over here and make me?”

“Maybe I will!”

“I’m waiting.”

An fair of silence hung over the group for a second as Lemon Zest very noticeably showed no sign of moving.

Until one by one, each of the girls let out a quiet chuckle.

“You are such a jerk!” Lemon Zest laughed.

Sugarcoats face broke into a smile. “Thanks for the newsflash, Captain Obvious.”

As she watched each of the Shadowbolt girls start laughing, it occurred to Sunset that all of what she just witnessed was their groups form of banter. That, or when it had stopped being serious and had become light-hearted banter, she wasn’t entirely sure.

She let out the breath she didn’t know she had been holding.

Something gave her a sneaking suspicion that she would struggle to find out any of the things she'd set out for today.

Today had been fun. A complete and utter failure of her mission, but… fun?

Sunset sat in her reclining gaming chair, staring at her map of theories and ideas.

She had discovered nothing new of any significance about Sunny. The whole day had been in fact, mostly spent just watching the Shadowbolt girls interact with each other. Their friendship group was, frankly, fascinating to her, so much so that it had (at least at the time) distracted her from her investigation of Sunny's father.

They argued, quite brutally insulted each other, but then just… forgot about it?

Small niggles that Sunset's group would usually spend 20-30 minutes having a friendship lesson about, their group just seemed to... skip over? At first Sunset thought she was watching a genuine argument, only for the group to then laugh about it and move on, and then immediately dive into another fake argument… Unless, they were serious arguments, and their group were just putting on a good face so they didn’t argue in front of her? Normally, if Rarity and Applejack disagreed on something, they would argue, then talk about it, and then usually settle on some kind of compromise and resume being on good terms. But these girls… just never seemed on good terms in the first place?

But... were still all friends?

She was definitely starting to see why Twilight was so confused about friendship before coming to CHS.

She huffed. She needed to stay determined, and focus on the investigation at hand.

She wasn’t able to talk to Sunny Flare privately at all today, and she doubted if they met up again under the same circumstances that that would change. If she wanted the information she needed out of Sunny, it would have to be in private.

Taking out her mobile, she opened her MyStable app.

After glancing over the conversation that had arranged today's meetup, Sunset began to type a new message.

SUNSET: Hey, you up?

After a few seconds of staring at the open message, she saw Sunny Flare begin typing.

SUNNY: I am!

As Sunset typed her next message, a second one came through instantly.

SUNNY: Was good seeing you guys today!

Sunset smiled. Why were her friends so turned off against meeting up with these girls again?

SUNSET: Awh, you guys too! Sorry we didn’t really do much

SUNNY: Don’t worry silly! We all had fun! Sorry if everyone came on a bit strong,

they’re like that haha xD

SUNSET: It’s ok! I get it, we did have fun! We should do it again sometime!

SUNNY: I’m up for that :)

SUNSET: Are you doing anything next weekend?

SUNNY: Was just going to study, wbu?

SUNSET: I don’t have plans, do you want to do something, just me and you?

Sunset pressed send but then winced at her choice of wording, hoping it wouldn’t be taken wrongly. After a moment, a response came.

SUNNY: I’d like that :)

Mentally, Sunset found herself grinning.

SUNSET: Awesome! We could catch a movie or something?

SUNNY: Yes, cool :) Meet at the coffee shop? Around five?

SUNSET: Sounds great :)

Sunset placed her phone down on her makeup table and glanced back up at her investigation process.

“Course corrected,” she thought, smirking to herself.