Sunset stared at the clock, desperately wishing the day was over. Moving lockers that morning had been a chore. She’d had to haul all of her books and notebooks across the school in a cardboard box, and while the locker was in much better condition than her previous one—not to mention in full view of one of the school’s security cameras—all she could feel was a building sense of dread in the pit of her stomach. Would the graffiti and the notes follow her to her new locker? Were her possessions even safe there? Gilda and someone she thought was probably Lightning Dust had already proven that they were willing to go to extreme lengths to punish her as they saw fit. How long before one of them filled her locker with something unpleasant?

She was still wrapping her head around the concept that she didn’t deserve what the other students were doing to her—after all she’d been and done, she still felt like she did. She had been the one to spend so long tormenting them, she had been the one that ruled the school like a mad queen, she had destroyed happiness and friendships for her own gain, and she’d violated their minds in the worst way imaginable. In the end, Sunset was responsible for the anger, hate, and animosity they felt for her, and didn’t they deserve the right to make her know how they felt, to express even a fraction of the suffering she had spent years putting them through? Besides, as much as they hated her, it couldn’t hold a candle to how much she hated herself; even Twilight’s gentle touch and affectionate kisses couldn’t dispel her self-loathing, and the dark haired girl had certainly tried her best.

The redhead kept pulling her phone out to read the messages from her girlfriend, to let the warmth wash away some of the knot of negativity in her chest, or to drown out the way she could practically feel the hate radiating off her schoolmates to press in on her. That morning had been particularly bad—at times, it had felt like she was being suffocated, her stomach churning and twisting in response to the feeling of being unable to properly breathe. Some dim part of her mind wondered if that’s what a panic attack felt like to Twilight.

Abruptly, the door to the classroom slammed open with a violent bang, making the whole study hall jump and Sunset almost come out of her own skin. Every head in the room turned to see who had thrown the door open so forcefully, only to watch as a scowling Rainbow Dash marched into the room, expression thunderous. The soccer star pushed past the teacher for the study hall none too gently to arrive at Sunset’s desk. Cringing back, the former unicorn stared as Rainbow reached down and grabbed Sunset’s bag and held it open to her. “Grab your shit, Shimmer. We’re going to the office.” The voice was sharp, commanding, and it left her feeling like the ground was falling out from under her. When she tried to speak, the athlete gave a tight shake of her head. “I’m not asking. Let’s go.”

Terror bloomed in her, her hind-brain screaming at her to bolt with animal instincts still shaped by the world she’d been born to. Run, get away, flee… she swallowed them, and followed after Dash on shaking legs, oblivious to the teacher trying to stop them or the malicious, gleeful whispers from the students. Sunset wracked her brain, trying to figure out what she could have possibly done to infuriate Rainbow Dash like this, or what someone could have possibly said to cause such a reaction. When the realization hit her, she had to swallow several times to keep her stomach and its contents in place. There was only one thing she could think of that would make the athlete this mad without her knowing: she had been found out. Someone had to have seen her with Twilight and told Rainbow Dash about it. Fear and fury waged war in her heart over the knowledge that her worries were right—they were going to try and take the one bright spot in her life away from her.

—Like Tartarus they will, horn-head! You’re not going to give up without a fight, are you?—

Sunset braced herself for the inevitable confrontation that she knew was coming—Stupid Little Voice was right. She’d told herself she’d do anything to protect her bond with the human world’s Twilight Sparkle, and while she didn’t want it to turn ugly, she would weather the coming storm, the yelling, the accusations, anything that would be thrown her way in order to keep that part of her life safe. Yet all she was encountering from Rainbow Dash was silence and the pressure building painfully in her skull that screamed magic was growing nearby.

Their group of two became a group of six when she stepped with Rainbow into the office. Raven Inkwell looked up from her phone call with an arched eyebrow, and the other four girls were looking to Rainbow with expressions of confusion and worry. Sunset found her fear rising again—if they didn’t already know, there was no telling how Rainbow Dash would present the situation to them.

Applejack stepped forward, taking in the raw fury on Dash’s face and the way Sunset had gone pale and shaken, opening her mouth to speak. “…Rainbow, what in tarnation is this all about?! Draggin’ us in here, tellin’ us it’s an emergency, an’ then showin’ up like this? Sunset looks ‘bout ready ta keel over!” Rarity had already stepped over to the redhead, placing a comforting hand on her forearm, brow creased with what Sunset could now recognize as concern.

Rainbow Dash said nothing in response to her friend, instead stalking up to the doors of both Principal and Vice-Principal and banging loudly on them. The former unicorn felt all the blood leave her face, like water going right down a drain, and swayed dizzily. The pressure of magic on her mind increased, almost drowning out the feeling of the farmer and the designer holding her up by the arms and keeping her from kissing the floor painfully. Sunset was already on thin ice with the administrators, and she didn’t want to lose what little trust she’d managed to gain from them. Breath…why couldn’t she seem to get enough of it? She was choking and suffocating again, her chest feeling tight and compressed as pain built at the center of her forehead, phantom agony in a horn she didn’t have.

Fluttershy’s worried face filled her spotty vision, her soft voice breaking through the haze. “…Sunset…you need to breathe, please…We’re here with you. Whatever happened, you aren’t alone.”

“She’s right, darling,” Rarity agreed as the echoing bangs faded. “…I don’t know why Rainbow Dash is upset, but we are certainly not going to leave you to fend for yourself in whatever is going on.”

Almost as one, both doors opened, revealing both Luna and Celestia. The sisters looked put out at having been rudely interrupted, with Luna in particular turning a sour expression on Rainbow Dash. The athlete stared defiantly at both educators, before herding the group of girls into Celestia’s office without even asking for permission, hooking the older woman’s arm on the way and pulling her along firmly. “We need to talk. You too, VP. You’re gonna want to be here for this shit.”

Sunset shook as she heard the door shut firmly behind Luna, the low clack of wood against frame reverberating like a death knell to her. Like everyone else, she was staring at Rainbow, oscillating between almost blind panic and blazing anger, with just a tiny measure of bewilderment thrown in. Why such a production over her being with Twilight? The…ridiculousness of it all was starting to break through her veil of panic, and she searched the room for any indication that anyone else had any idea of what was happening.

“Miss Dash,” Luna began, a barely contained tempest in her tone, “what is this all about?”

Rainbow pulled a thick stack of papers from her backpack, only to start spreading them across the principal’s desk for everyone to see, each page carefully numbered. Sunset caught sight of the header for the “Shimmer Hate” group, her eyes going wide. How had Dash learned about it? She looked away, not needing to look at the papers to see the words that where already seared into her mind.

“Oh my heavens,” Rarity gasped, her hand shifting from the redhead’s arm to go around her back in a hug. Applejack, on Sunset’s other side, growled something that might have been agreement if it didn’t sound like it had been made by an angry bear. Warmth seeped into her from the arm on her back.

The sound of a palm slapping the papers interrupted. “This is what this is about,” Dash rasped. “I got it all. Every single post, in order from when it started until today, the full member list, the admins of the group—I even printed copies of each user’s profile pages so they could be identified.” A second stack hit the desk’s surface with a heavy thud, and Sunset looked up again, her whole body trembling. She could see a profile picture staring up at her. Everyone else was leaning forward, reading what they could make out, faces painted with dismay.

“…This page is downrigh’ disgustin’,” Applejack snarled. “T’ain’t no way ta talk about someone, an’ ain’t the way ya air dirty laundry neither, especially iffin the person can’t even defend themselves from what’s bein’ said.” She, too, shifted her grip on Sunset, draping a muscular arm around her shoulders.

Pinkie’s eyes were sorrowful, her hair hanging perfectly straight and still down her back. “…they want Sunset to hurt herself, and they’re laughing about it…Laughter is supposed to be fun, to make people happy and bring them together…not tear them down and tear them apart…” Her lip trembled, and from one moment to the next she went from the desk to behind Sunset, arms going around her waist in a tight hug that for once didn’t make the former unicorn want to lash out with a kicking foot. Every bit of added contact with the girls she had started to see as friends sent a flicker of magic through her that leeched off some of the pain in her skull.

Fluttershy said very little, her eyes reading over one of the printouts, face wet with tears. Wordlessly, she set the page back down so she could step close to Sunset and grab her hand to squeeze it, the touch sending soothing, warm tingles of magic up her arm, acting like a balm on hurts Sunset had just gotten used to ignoring.

Rainbow’s eyes followed the movements of her oldest friend, and her previous expression of anger gave way to guilt. “You were right, Fluttershy. We failed. I let my friends down, and in the worst way.” She turned to Sunset, who felt fear and panic giving way to stunned confusion. “I should’ve had your back—you needed it most of all, and I couldn’t see what was right in front of me because I was too busy living in the past. I was supposed to help you learn about being a good friend, and I screwed that up. I’m sorry, Sunset.”

Rainbow Dash was sorry? She was apologizing? To her. Sunset Shimmer. This had to be some sort of weird dream—that was the only reasonable explanation she could think of for why this was happening.

Sunset was ripped from her thoughts when the Principal made a sound of anger and disgust in her throat. “I have never been more appalled by anything in my entire life. This page is atrocious,” she said, her voice deadly soft as she turned to her sister. “Luna, this needs to be dealt with now.” A shiver rippled through the former unicorn, the tone dredging up a hundred memories of the Princess commanding the guard or staring down at her when she’d done something wrong.

The assistant principal was scowling at the papers and what she saw, something dark in her eyes. “How exactly did you come across this social media group, Rainbow Dash?” she asked pointedly, pinning the athlete with a gaze that sucked heat right out of the air.

Dash seemed unconcerned, glowering at the pages. “Someone I know tipped me off this weekend, and I sent a request. I wanted to make things right, so I skipped this morning to print all this out. I’ll take the detention for it—I’d take a week’s worth if I had to, because it was worth it.” Her expression was savage. “There is one more thing I need to do to make this right though.”

She joined the other girls crowding around Sunset, finding a space opposite Fluttershy and in front of Applejack where she could loop her arm through the stunned redhead’s, the other holding her phone out. “…Squish together a bit. I want Sunset in the middle.”

The other girls crowded even closer, Pinkie already dancing in place as she stretched up on tip toes to peer over Sunset’s shoulder, and Fluttershy’s smile suggesting that at least one of them already knew what Rainbow Dash meant to do. Sunset could feel their arms and hands providing support and strength, more of that magical feeling warmth like what she felt at Twilight’s house filling her up and driving out some of the pain and fear that gripped icy fingers around her heart. A hint of a smile broke out on her face, and Pinkie mushed their cheeks together. “That’s a real smile,” she stage whispered like it was some sort of grave secret.

The phone’s camera flashed, and Rainbow fiddled with it for a moment. It responded with a cheerful sounding chirp, and the savage grin on her face grew even fiercer. “There.” She turned the screen so that the girls could all see it. There was a brand new post at the top of the “Shimmer Hate Page”—a full sized, high resolution photo of the group of girls gathered around Sunset like a protective vanguard, the former bully in the middle with a crooked, somewhat hesitant smile forming on her face as if she almost didn’t believe what was going on, and a decisive caption beneath:

“Sunset’s one of us.”

The magic was ringing in her ears like the echo of a thunderclap, and Sunset sank into the arms still holding her up as the pressure on her head started to equalize, despite the magic still brushing her senses. “I…I thought you hated me…” she whispered to the soccer player, tears forming in her eyes and threatening to spill over. It was something she had become even more convinced of the Friday before and the confrontation after detention. “So why…?”

“Because it was the right thing to do. That page? That page was bullshit—even I could tell half that shit’s made up for the shock value.” Rainbow shook her head, ignoring the frowns sent her way by the two adults in the room. “I didn’t want to admit we were supposed to be your friends, that we were supposed to look out for you and help you. I fought it, got stuck in what you used to be like, in all the things you did to us before, and I couldn’t see how you’re not the same as you were before Twilight came. Like I said, you were the friend who needed me the most and I let you down. I didn’t have your back like I should have—I was just as bad as some of the people on that page. I yelled at you, called you names, threatened you, and you didn’t deserve any of that.” The soccer star hung her head in shame. “…I was supposed to help you learn how to be a good friend and all I did was be a total bitch to you and turn a blind eye to some of what I saw, because I wanted you to have a taste of your own medicine. I fucked up, Sunset, and I’m sorry it took something like that page for me to see it.”

Pinkie perked up, trying to find that silver lining in the situation. “…At least it was a private group, and you haven’t had to see all the mean things they were writing, Sunset!”

There was a loud and derisive sound from the colorful athlete. “Try again, Pinkie Pie,” she told the party planner sourly. “…It wasn’t enough for them to talk behind Sunset’s back with all of this awful bitching. They’ve been printing this shit out and sticking in places for Sunset to find. It’s how I found out.” Dash frowned, looking at Sunset again. “I was reminded by someone that you helped that while you might’ve been Queen Bitch before, you never crossed lines like they are. Sure, you played games and used people against each other but you never suggested someone would be better off killing themselves, or went for things that would really hurt someone…”

Sunset stared, unsure of how to reply. She had been a horrible, terrible monster, yet now she was being told by the one person who had mistrusted her and despised her the most that she hadn’t been that bad? That what she was on the receiving end of was somehow a greater crime than she had committed? “…but…I did horrible things…I tried…I tried to kill you all. I took over everyone’s minds…How can you say all that?”

Luna’s voice interjected. “…Miss Shimmer, I must concur with Miss Dash. While your behavior prior to the Fall Formal was…unpleasant and ugly, it hardly possessed this level of cruelty and malice. As far as I am aware,” here the Vice-Principal lifted one of the pages off the desk, “you never told any one that you desired they ‘leap from the tallest building in Canterlot into rush hour traffic,’ or any other such extreme examples as are…somewhat readily apparent here among these printouts. I assure you, had you perpetrated any of this kind of destructive and dangerous bullying, you would have been expelled from this building long before you had the opportunity to make trouble at the dance.”

“But now they’ll know,” Sunset found herself saying to Dash, still stunned by this turn of events. “What if they decide to bother you now too because you’re all saying you’re my friends? What if they try to hurt you too?”

Dash punched her fist against her palm. “Let them give it their best shot. I don’t care what they say or think about me. I did the right thing.” She exhaled, moving to stand in front of Sunset, and placed her hands on Sunset’s shoulders. “Twilight called me Loyalty, right? Loyalty isn’t just about sticking by someone. Loyalty is also about remaining true to yourself and what you believe in, even if it costs you everything. After all, if you can’t be loyal to yourself…then how can you hope to be loyal to anyone else?”

The others stared at Dash for a moment in disbelief, and she made a face. “What? I’m not an egghead, but I’m not stupid!”

Rarity cleared her throat, and from the movement Sunset could hear, she exchanged one of those long looks with Applejack. Both of them tightened their hugs at the same time. “All other commentary aside, Sunset, darling, Rainbow Dash is right. Let them say or do what they will—we will stand by you regardless, and if they have an issue with that, we will handle it as it comes.”

“Eeeeyup,” drawled the farmer on her other side. “’Sides, Ah’d like ta seem ‘em try ta get physical with us. That’d be funnier’n Mac in one o’ Granny’s old dresses—t’ain’t noone in this school that’s stronger’n an Apple. Ah’d just sit on ‘em ‘til they cried uncle.” A pause, with another squeeze around the redhead’s shoulders. “That goes fer ya too, Sunset. They come at ya where Ah kin see, an’ they gonna hafta deal with me.” It wasn’t an empty threat either—the Apple siblings, especially the older two, had a bit of a reputation for being almost unnaturally strong when the need arose.

Sunset knew she wasn’t imagining it, the feeling of magic that shouldn’t have existed in the human world. It was soaking the air around her, racing over her skin like a million tiny electrical sparks as it discharged into the air, but she was at a loss to explain why it was happening. Still, standing in the office, surrounded and held by the five girls who had once stood against her, Sunset couldn’t focus on anything other than how good she felt inside, the knot of self-hate shrinking under the warm hug and sense of belonging she was starting to feel. The smile that had started to form on her face became a full grin and then a laughing one, happy tears pricking at the corner of her eyes as she reached out to hug them back.

Okay. The pouting Trixie convinced me. Have the extra chapter this week. :P

You guys are lucky I'm a sucker. Hope you all enjoy it.

...ah, Rainbow Dash. The character who wouldn't know a half measure if it bit her on the ass. She's also a potty mouth, though still better than a lot of teens who use "fuck" like its a limited time only thing.