//------------------------------// // Contest of Rivals: The Academic Decathlon // Story: Contest of Rivals // by Moon-Lite //------------------------------// Contest of Rivals: The Academic Decathlon   9:03AM       “The first event shall be the Academic Decathlon.” Cadence started, addressing both the two teams of students before her, as well as the two groups of student cheerleaders who stood behind them. “It is a best of five event, with the bottom two scoring students of each team being eliminated from the remaining rounds of the event. After one team has achieved the three wins necessary to win the event, the top six scoring students shall move onto the second event.”       Luna stepped forward as Cadence finished. “We shall be starting with Chemistry, so if you all would follow Us, We shall lead you to our first competition.” She turned around and started leading the students away from the gymnasium entrance, and towards the stairs up to the next level.       “Chemistry, huh?” Indigo mentioned, scratching her chin in thought. “Wonder what they want us to do?”       “I hope it’s something explosive!” Lemon Zest exclaimed in hush tones, doing her best to avoid the now backwards gaze of Principal Cinch.       “I hope for all our sakes that it is not the case.” Sugarcoat muttered, eyes straight ahead as she followed diligently with the rest of Team Crystal Prep.       Sunset kept her eyes forward, looking over the team that CHS had assembled. The Rainbooms were the first she studied, trying to find out what Rainbow Dash meant by the six of them talking. Why did they still want to talk to her? Did they think that a massive group hug would make everything better? She shook her head as she frowned slightly, hoping no one else was paying too much attention to her. She would think about it later, after the first event.       Aquamarine orbs turned to the ones around the Rainbooms, spotting Lyra and Bon Bon instantly as a sad smile came to her face. A pity they had to be involved in this fiasco-to-be. Derpy’s shoulder length blond hair faced the former CHS student, its bearer trudging along slowly like the rest of the students, whilst Flash Sentry, Sandalwood, and Micro Chips kept shooting looks back at Sunset before looking back to each other and whispering things. Boys, Sunset thought, before pausing and looking at the hardest to miss character on the team.       They got Bulk Biceps to participate? Sunset was shocked as the white mountain of a boy strode along. He wasn’t exactly the brightest student, but that was the case for a fair number of the team that CHS had put together. What did they do, base it on popularity?       “Here we are, teams.” Luna stated as she paused before a large set of double doors. “The chemistry lab, where you shall perform in the first event of these Games!”       Sunset always enjoyed chemistry. Not as much as alchemy back home, but at least on this world she didn’t have to worry about mishandeling dragon fire, or accidently drinking a potion brewed with basilisk venom instead of lime extract. Sure there wasn’t the same level of magical brewings and ancient incantations, but chemistry followed a lot of the same principals. Careful measuring of different components, delicate heating and diluting, there was even chances for interesting explosions!       “Make sure to grab yourselves a proper sized lab coat and a pair of safety goggles and meet me over by the stations.” Luna said before she moved over to the metal tables, their surfaces littered with racks of beakers and burners. Sunset looked over at the herd of students swarming over the rack of snow white coats, one obviously sized for Bulk stood out amongst the others. She waited for the sea to calm before she made her move, digging through the coats. Surely it was still here! She flipped the collar of each lab coat, checking the inside of each one that she handled.       “There!” Sunset pulled out a lab coat, hugging it close.       “There, what?” asked a half hearted Sour Sweet, the girl fitting her goggles over her eyes.       “Clover! The lab coat I always used!” Sunset had a massive grin on her face as she held out the lab coat, some strange scrawling written on the inside of the collar. Sour Sweet rolled her eyes before handing Sunset a pair of goggles.       “You don’t have a personal pair of goggles, do you?” the ponytail wearing teen asked, playful venom dripping from her mouth as Sunset giggled and grabbed the goggles away quickly.       “Nope, they had to replace these things too quickly for me to be able to name one.” She shook her head as she shrugged playfully, affixing the clear plastic headgear securely to her face, before joining the rest of the students at the first battleground of many.   “Welcome, competitors, to the first event… Chemistry!” Cadence called out redundantly, pleasant smile on her face as she greeted the twenty four teens before her. “In this event, all of you shall be working separately, you are going to be unable to assist your fellow team members.”   Celestia stood forward as she took over from the Dean of Students from Crystal Prep. “Now, whoever finishes first will gain extra points for their school. But don’t rush! We will also be scoring based on how well each of your finished…”   Sunset tuned out the yammering of everyone around her. She stood at the far end of the table from where Principal Celestia stood, Sour Sweet to her left, while Rainbow Dash and Bulk Biceps stood across from her, the athlete constantly stealing passing glances over at the amber girl. She paid it no mind, if Rainbow wanted to be distracted, let her. Sunset was here to make sure Crystal Prep Academy won, so as to make sure Twilight would be able to go to her inevitable post secondary schooling of highest acclaim.   “...And remember! The two lowest scoring members of each team will be eliminated at the end of the round. Good luck!” Celestia’s voice called out as an air horn belted out it’s annoying wail. Sunset looked down, taking note of everything before her, reading labels and starting to prep for the coming concoction brewing.   “Why do you keep staring at her?”   Sunset tore her eyes away from her frenzied, yet calm, hands as they mixed and measured the different chemical agents before her. Sour Sweet was seeming to confront Rainbow Dash about her constant lookings at Sunset. Great start to the competition.   “Why do you care?” Rainbow shot back, pausing from her own clumsy mixings to stare at Sunset’s apparent bodyguard. “What are you, her keeper?”   “Does it matter? From what little I know, it seems I’ve done better with her than you ever have.” Sour Sweet gave one of her trademark sarcastic smiles as she looked down. “And if I were you sweetie, I’d pay more attention to your own work.”   Rainbow let out a small yelp as she noticed her tube bubbling over. She rushed to remedy the situation as Sour nudged Sunset carefully. “I’ll keep her off your back, you just focus on what you’re doing.”   Sunset nodded thankfully, returning to calibrating the flame before her. Slowly everything came together for her, the vial cooling as Sunset worked on the second reagent, grabbing a small dropper’s worth of the fluid before depositing it into the vial and giving it a careful swirl, the glass pleasantly warm in her hands. Once it settled, calm overtaking the liquid within, the compound cleared, becoming a crystal clear colour.   “Finished.” Sunset stated calmly, finally taking notice of the large number of Canterlot High and Crystal Prep students watching off to the wings. No one from CHS seemed happy, all of them wearing scowls and keeping a great distance between one another. Thinking it odd, probably judging the teens to be angry to see Sunset and the Sirens, Sunset looked over to her other side, seeing Twilight and the Sirens motioning to her. Aria had to hold Sonata down, the aqua Siren waving super enthusiastically from the sidelines. Adagio nodded and waved with a smile, as Twilight tore her eyes from her Ethyl device to wave happily to her friend.   “You are finished, miss Shimmer?” Luna asked as Sunset waved to her friends. She turned around to see the two Principals, as well as Cadence and Vice Principal Luna standing before her, clipboards and pens at the ready. Cinch had a subdued scowl on her face, though Sunset could see the… resentment? What was the look in the woman’s eyes?   “Yes, maams.” Sunset responded, stepping aside to let the four judges look at her work. A flurry of scratching filled the air as the four looked over the teen’s chemical creation, a warm smile on her face the whole time.   “Good work, Sunset.” Cadence said as she turned to the girl. Sunset could tell the woman was just barely holding back from patting Sunset on the back. “You finished first as well as a perfect job. You may join your peers on the sidelines after you wash up and return your safety equipment.”   Sunset nodded in thanks as the four departed, Cinch still wearing a cold and dangerous air about her. Her eyes shot down both ends of the table, taking in the efforts of both teams. Few had barely even gotten to a quarter of the way through, most of them stumbling slightly. Except for Sugarcoat. The Advanced Chemistry student had made it to the halfway point of the task, her brows furrowed in an uncommon display of emotion. The rest of her new friends were all doing well, though the rest of the Shadowbolts were not doing as hot as they should be. Most of CHS was nipping on the heels of their competitors, making steady progress of their own.   “Good work, Sun-Shim!” Sonata congratulated once Sunset joined her four personal cheerleaders, wrapping her arms around the unicorn in an overflow of friendship. “I knew you were crazy smart!”   “Sonata, dear, please let the nice prodigy go.” Adagio commanded, her voice carrying the obvious intentions should the cheery girl not comply.   “Gotta say, Shimmer,” Aria added as she slapped her friend playfully across the back, maybe a little more firmly than what was necessary, “You sure showed those bitches what for.”   “Aria!” Twilight’s face blushed a deep crimson at the crass statement from the Siren, “Mind your manners! We are at another school after all!”   Sunset chuckled at the whole display, ignoring Twilight delving back into her device as it started beeping again. The five of them made small talk as they watched the rest of the two teams start to near the end of their work. Sugarcoat had joined them a while after Sunset, sharing a comment as she sat down.   “The atmosphere here sucks.”   Sunset regarded the ever blunt girl. She noticed it as well, huh?   “Yeah, I was expecting them to be a bit more welcoming.” Sunset looked around as she responded, the rest of the Crystal Prep Academy students all nose deep in their phones. “Guess this school really doesn’t like me…”   “I think it’s more the fact that we’ve always beaten them for the last decade in anything and everything.” Sugarcoat montoned, her body unmoving. “And not just beaten, humiliated. And we would always show them the superiority of our Academy.”   “So Crystal Prep has the reputation of being the ungracious winners?” Sugarcoat nodded slightly in response to Sunset’s inquiry. “Great, no wonder they dislike us being here. That party didn’t have the usual Pinkie Pie exuberance or Rarity flair.”   “Yo.”   Sunset turned to regard the newcomer, feeling the Sirens around her tense up in response.   “What do you need, Rainbow?” Sunset’s response was calm and collected, though cool and careful. She remembered Rainbow said that Sunset and the Rainbooms needed to talk, but she was hoping it could be after the event.   “Come with me.” she tentatively reached a hand out to Sunset, eyes showing a deep hope that the girl would take the extremity.   “Why should she, you big bully!?” Sonata demanded, standing up and moving between Rainbow and Sunset, her hands on her hips. “What are you gonna do, yell at her? Call her a traitor!?”   “Sonata, relax.” Sunset interjected as she stood up, putting a hand on the girl's shoulder.   “Don’t tell me you are actually gonna do it, Shimmer?” Aria asked in shock, unable to stand up.   “May as well here them out.” Sunset shrugged as she looked at the athlete. “Where to?”   Sonata stepped aside, looking like she possessed all the worry in the world as Sunset followed Rainbow, the pair slipping out into the hallway as Sunset heard small buzzings from Twilight's device.   Sunset leaned against the wall as Rainbow stood before her. Neither said anything as the stared at one another.   “Well?” Sunset finally asked, breaking the pall of silence with her flat question.   “I’m sorry.” Rainbow said, staring into the aquamarine irises of the girl before her.   “Is that all?” Sunset asked when Rainbow grew silent once more. A few more moments of silenced washed over the girls before Sunset pushed off the wall. “Look, I’ve moved on, I suggest the rest of you-”   “We fucked up.” Rainbow said, cutting Sunset off, her sky blue hands clenching into fists. “We were fucking insensitive assholes who turned on our friend -our family!- for no reason.” Tears filled the magenta eyes of Rainbow as she looked upon Sunset, taking in the Shadowbolts uniform. “I don’t blame ya for not wanting to ever talk to us again. We fucked you over in the most impossibly cruel way ever. We may never be able to make up for what we did, but please… Sunset… for all the good times we had together… let us at least try to show that we apologize.”   “Why should she let you?”   The pair looked at the girl standing at the doors that connected the hall and the chemistry lab.   “If you fucked up as bad as I’ve learned, why should she give you a second chance? Shouldn’t she value her life more?”   Sour Sweet slowly made her way to beside Sunset, her hands resting crossed before her as she casually flips her ponytail.   “I suggest you head back inside.”   Rainbow regarded the newcomer with a scowl before turning to Sunset one last time. “Listen to the others, let us try to help fix this.”   Sunset watched the teen, her insides squirming as she listened to the girl spill her guts before standing up straight and wiping the tears from her eyes, before Rainbow departed back into the lab leaving the two Shadowbolts alone.       “I want to know the whole story”       Sunset sighed as she leaned back against the wall again. First Rainbow wanting to apologize, now Sour Sweet wanting to grill her. How else could this day get any worse?       “You want the long or the short?” She asked, not looking over at Sour who was still gazing at her, arms crossed in front of her body.       “Well I agree with Sugarcoat that you suck at speeches, so how about the short?” Sour said, her usual range of cruel or sweet strangely absent as she adress Sunset.       “Well,” Sunset chuckled, “The five we met in the music room were once my friends, damn near family, ya know?” She turned at looked at her fellow Shadowbolt. “At least I thought they were. The school hated me for my past actions even though I did the best I could to repent, and when some students set up a smear campaign everybody believed it and came after me.”       Sunset paused, fingers fiddling with her ever squiggly bang as she waited to see if Sour would respond. When the teen didn’t, she continued.       “I was attacked verbally for a few days, not a single person believing I was innocent, before it got so far as to have one student attack me with a knife.” Sunset didn’t feel like talking about how much she had pleaded and begged, or the fact that the knife was just a box cutter. “I didn’t get physically hurt from the attack, but it drove home the fact that I wasn’t welcome here anymore. I tried to meet with the five of them one last time, where they more or less fully disowned me.”       She looked to the listener, Sour’s face unreadable.       “I spent that night walking through the massive blizzard we had, ended up somewhere on the end of town near Crystal Prep, before I tried to kill myself. Cadence happened to be passing by and got me to the hospital in time, Twilight’s family ended up taking me in and I transferred to Crystal Prep. You know the rest.”       Sunset studied the stare that she was still receiving from Sour Sweet, the girl’s eyes much wiser and understanding than Sunset thought possible.       “I understand why you thought that suicide was the only choice left.” She started, flipping her ponytail as she spoke. “Sometimes life gets to be too much, and no matter how much you give it’s not enough.”       Sunset studied the girl, wondering where this sudden bout of deepness was coming from.       “My father committed suicide when I was sixteen. My Mother had driven him to the point of no return, and his family disowned him when he married her. He was too proud to listen to them about what kind of woman the Witch was.”       Sunset took a step back in shock. “Sour…”       “I left after that, took the inheritance he left only to me and started living on my own. The Witch keeps trying to get everything she can from me, but-”       Sour went suddenly silent when Sunset lunged forward and grabbed the girl in a deep hug. “Sour, I am so sorry…” Sour remained still, Sunset nestling her head onto the girl's shoulder. “I am so sorry that you have to live through this…”       “It’s fine, Sunset…”       “It’s not.” Sunset countered, looking into the girls tearing eyes. “It’s obviously affected you in a pretty severe way. I know I’m a newcomer but I count you amongst my good friends, and I hope you do the same because I want to help you. I know I’ll never be able to make it fully better, but I am here to talk should you ever want to.”       The pair remained silent, Sour Sweet remaining motionless in the caring embrace of the taller Sunset. She eventually motioned to Sunset to let go, the amber girl giving one last squeeze before backing off.       “We should head back inside…” Sour whispered softly before heading back to the chemistry lab, Sunset following a few steps behind.       “Ah, there are out missing competitors.” Cadence said, “I was just about to send out a search party for you two.”       “Sorry, Dean Cadence, I needed to use the washroom and Sour came after me.” Sunset bowed her head in apology, Cadence’s soft giggles floating through the air.       “No worries, Sunset. Just make sure to let us know next time.” the cerise skinned woman turned to regard the two teams. “Congratulations, students, on a job well done. You all did well, but there can only be one winner.”       Everyone grew quiet as they awaited the results, though Sunset could see the students of the two schools already expected the answer that came from Cadence’s mouth.       “Congratulations to Team Crystal Prep for winning the first event, and especially to Sunset Shimmer to not only finishing first, but also having the best score!”       A pathetic round of apathetic applause filled the air. CHS students grumbled as they were forced to clap when Celestia looked over them, while Crystal Prep students gave empty sighs and golf claps. Except for Sonata, who easily doubled the volume with her own enthusiastic cheerings. Adagio, Aria, and Twilight each gave their own cheers, though did so in a much more respectable manner.       “Congrats, Sunset.”       She turned to regard Bon Bon and Lyra who held their hands out, Sunset shaking each in turn. “Thanks you two, I appreciate it.”       “I can’t believe the students though.” Lyra commented, “They are being so cold.”       “I think I understand why…” Sunset muttered, scratching the back of her head absentmindedly. “Guess Crystal Prep has a pretty… sour reputation.”       The two “best friends” turned and look at each other, before turning back to face Sunset, Bon Bon’s face in a deep frown.       “Actually, Sunset, the whole school’s been like this since that assembly.”       Sunset tilted her head. What did the confectioner mean?       “You know, the one where Anon-A-Miss was revealed and you blew up at Rainbow and company?”       Sunset dropped her head in shame, remembering the events.       “Lyra! Honestly!” She gave a cross look to the lyrist, before reaching a hand out and resting it on Sunset’s shoulder affectionately. “Look, no one judges you for those events. It’s more that the school is upset at itself. A lot of secrets were spread and friendships were ruined, damage irrevocably done so to speak.”       “Everyone has been dealing with some pretty harsh punishments. Hell, the school had to hire a security detail for the three girls the day after they showed back up at school.” Lyra said, her hands resting behind her mint coloured hair.       “Wait, really?” Sunset stuttered, shocked at what she was hearing. The Orchestra Group, Vinyl, Octavia, Lyra, and Bon Bon as Sunset collectively called them, had let her know a bit about what was happening but never went into much detail.       “Excuse me, you three, but it’s time we announce the next round and who will no longer be participating.” Luna had approached the three, nodding as she spoke.       “Probably me and Derpy.” Lyra said, a sad chuckle escaping her mouth. “I damn near had mine explode, and Derpy somehow got hers to do so.”       Sunset waved and grimaced at the two teens heading back to their respective team, before standing in formation with her own, face steeled and posture set as she prepared to receive the news.       “The following competitors shall sadly not be moving on, though they gave it their best.” Cadence started, before Cinch cut in.       “Jet Set, Upper Crust, I am disappointed in you two. You both failed to even attempt to try, and don’t give me the excuse that you didn’t want to dirty your clothes. You were wearing lab coats!”       The other three women cringed as Cinch blasted the two former competitors, the pair shrugging as they walked over to the Crystal Prep Academy student delegation, talking with Fleur de Lis.       “Lyra, Derpy, sadly you two shall not be continuing on.” Celestia said, sad smile on her face.       “Called it!” Lyra said, “No way the girl who almost made her chemical explode and the one who did were going on.”       Derpy had a rather cross look, or at least Sunset thought she did. The poor girl’s wall eyes making it hard to tell sometimes.       “Er, yes.” Celestia said before she turned to regard the remaining twenty students. “Now, the next competition shall be Home Ec. Each of you shall pair up with another member from your team and work together to make the best cake possible within the time limit. Both presentation and taste shall be judged.”       The teens scrambled about to make their pairings, Sunset sighing and chuckling at the same time.       “What’s so funny?” Sunny Flare asked, standing before the blood and gold maned girl.       “Oh,” Sunset turned to regard the girl, “Just the fact that CHS is going to win this one so amazingly.”       “Really?” The girl seem unconvinced. “They had one chemical explosion and one near chemical explosion. I doubt they will be able to do much with this cooking segment.”       “Prepare to be amazed.” Sunset chuckled again, “Wanna be my partner?”       Sunny Flare shrugged in confirmation, “What do you expect them to do? Make a cake with the Manea Lisa inside?”     ****************************************         “Told ya so.” Sunset said, her hair tied back in a ponytail as icing smudged across her face and hands.       Sunny Flare stood in shock, the look strange on the normally cold teens visage, staring at the massively tall cake that Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy had made. Inside was indeed the Manea Lisa, smiling back in cake form at the four judges who all dropped their pens simultaneously.       “What. The. Hell?” was all the girl could manage as Sunset handed her a damp cloth.       “Don’t think to hard about it. Pinkie is a strange magical creature.” Sunny Flare wiped at her face rapidly, before looking again in shock at the cake staring back at her. She could swear the thing winked at her. “Howabout we go grab a drink from the water fountain? I don’t know about you but I am parched.”       Sunset motioned to Cadence, making a drinking motion and pointing to herself and Sunny Flare, the Dean nodding and whispering to the two women in charge of CHS. The pair made their way out, walking a short way down the hall to the metal water dispenser.       “So what made Sour Sweet talk about her past to you?” Sunny Flare asked, startling Sunset and causing her to start coughing up water that attempted to make it’s way to her lungs.       “What are you talking about?” Sunset hacked and spluttered as she looked up at the girl looming above, eyes tearing as her body fought to vacate the offending liquid.       “She doesn’t talk to anyone about her past, so why did she tell you?” Sunny asked again, body language further confirming her solid stance on the issue.       Sunset slowly cleared the water from her airways, giving one last cough before clearing away tears and facing her baking partner.       “I told her about the events that caused me to transfer to Crystal Prep.”       “Oh yes,” Sunny said, fingers coming to her chin, “The stuff Twilight and Aria have mentioned.”       “Yeah, the school drove me to suicide.” Sunset said, nodding in confirmation. Why did she keep having to bring this up?       “Why?”       More inquires.       “Cause I felt like I had nothing left.” Sunset said, sighing as she got prepared to tell the story for the second time that day.       “Didn’t you have friends here? You’ve had an easy enough time making friends in the shark tank that is Crystal Prep.”       “I thought I did.” Sunset said lifelessly, “They joined on the bandwagon when I was getting framed for spreading secrets about students.”       Sunny Flare took a few steps forward, resting her hands on Sunset’s shoulders. “If something like this ever happens again, talk to me. I can help you, give you someone to talk to or somewhere to stay at the very least.”       Sunset looked at the Shadowbolt in surprise. Where was this coming from. “Thanks, Sunny. I appreciate it.”       “I promise on the honour of my family that we will take care of you.” The girl removed her hands before bowing. “The Kindheart Conglomerate looks after it’s own.”       “Wait… You’re part of the Kindheart Conglomerate!? They own most of the land and assist all the independant businesses in Canterlot! Not to mention across the country!”       Sunny Flare nodded. “As heiress to the throne, so to speak, I have the sway to help should you need it.”       Sunset bowed, honoured by the offer. “Thank you Sunny. I hope that I never have to accept your generosity though.”       “Sunset?”       The pair of Shadowbolts looked and saw two Wondercolts looking at them, one hiding behind her long pink hair while the other pink haired girl tried to get the attention of Sunset.       “Can we, uh… Can we talk?” Pinkie Pie asked, Fluttershy nodding in agreement.       “Should I leave you three be?” Sunny Flare asked, obviously wanting to stay with her friend.       “We’ll be fine Sunny, thanks though. Go join the rest of the team, I shouldn’t be long.”       Sunny nodded before departing, not sparing the two Wondercolts even a passing glance. The two walked forward, Fluttershy still hiding away while Pinkie was much more timid than usual. She’s almost like Fluttershy… Sunset thought as the two stopped before her.       “So… Rainbow put you up to this?” Sunset asked, her tone neutral and not carrying any sort of malice.       “No!” Pinkie cried out, taken aback by Sunset’s claim. “We have to talk about this Sunset, it’s not good for anyone to ignore what happened.”       “Who say’s anything about ignoring what happened?” Sunset asked, her head tilted. She was still extremely uneasy about talking to the Rainbooms, not wanting to give them a chance to attack her, but she knew that the six of them had to talk about this. “I’ve moved past it, and I told Rainbow to pass that along to the rest of you.”       “Moving past it doesn’t mean that it’s over though.” Pinkie said, surprisingly calm and solemn. “We broke our promises to look after you and to take care of you. We took away your smile, your happiness, all because…” She died out as she started to sniffle, Fluttershy reaching over to pat her friends back reassuringly.       “Yes, you girls did. But it doesn’t matter, as I said I’m over it.” Sunset said as Pinkie started to sob silently. “If you are all looking to be forgiven, fine, I forgive you all.”       “You know it’s not that easy, Sunset…” Fluttershy whispered. “Just because you lie and tell us you forgive us, doesn’t mean anything…” She wiped a budding tear out of her eye before she continued. “We were cruel, and uncaring, not even giving you a chance to defend yourself. We allowed the students to attack you and bully you. We treated you worse than how you treated us, and allowed people to cross lines that you never did…”       “Okay, and?” Sunset asked, doing her best to not break down and cry. They knew they had messed up, they were trying to apologize, so why did Sunset feel so sad? Why didn’t she just accept it?       “I know we can never make it up to you.” Pinkie started again, looking up with tear filled baby blue eyes, “A party isn’t gonna be able to make things better, nor can we hug and make things better… But we want to try, Sunset. All of us…”       “Please, let us try, Sunset…” Fluttershy added quietly. Sunset remained silent, eyes closed so the two teens couldn’t see the tears threatening to break free.       “I think we should head back.” She finally said, “They are no doubt waiting for us.” Sunset passed the two and went back to the crowded home ec room.       “Congratulations to Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy of Canterlot High for singlehandedly winning the event for Team CHS!” Cadence called out, smile on her face as three of the judges clapped. Cinch had her arms crossed as she stared coldly at the display. The students of CHS were infinitely more excited this time, clapping somewhat excitedly upon hearing the news. The two teams stood side by side, Bon Bon to the left of Sunset. “With the round score tied one apiece, I think it is time we inform those who will sadly be joining the cheering sections who they are.”       Cinch started to tear into Suri Polomare and Neon Lights as Luna stood before a furiously blushing Bon Bon and a scowling Flash Sentry.       “I’m sorry you two, but we asked for cake, not bread. Sadly you two shall not be continuing on.” Luna said with a sad smile.       Bon Bon bowed knowingly as Flash stomped off, whispering something about Bon Bon being useless.       “Pay him no mind, Bon Bon.” Sunset reassured, “He’s kind of an ass when things don’t go his way.”       “Heh, yeah… Though truth be told I kind of didn’t want to even participate in the Friendship Games, and once Lyra was eliminated I decided I didn’t want to play anymore.”       “So that’s why the girl voted best confectioner by the Canterlot Food Elites three years running made bread instead of cake?” Sunset wore a playful grin as Bon Bon whistled innocently and kicked a foot. “Go hang with your girl, Bon.” She chuckled as she dismissed the pink and blue haired girl with a wave of her hand.       “Now for the next event, we welcome all sixteen remaining competitors to follow us down to the Shop, for the Construction portion of the Games.” Celestia called out as she stood by the doorway leading from the room.     ***********************************         “So,” Lemon Zest grunted as she brought her hammer down onto the nail sticking out of the wood, “want to talk to me about something?”       Sunset looked up from her knees as she held the wood together that the pair hoped would become a birdhouse. “What brings this up?” She said, worried about the audiophile missing the wood and wailing her hand with the metal hammer.       “Sunny and Sour said to talk to ya about something, that’s all they said.” She replied as she fished around for another nail.       “Oh, that.” Sunset glowered as she looked down at the wood again. “What should I tell ya?”       “Sour said, and I quote, ‘Ask for the short and sweet version.’... I think?” Lemon paused and refitted her goggles as she looked down at her partner.       “Fine, since you asked so nicely.” Sunset sighed, “I told them about how I used to study here and was driven to suicide by being framed by the students for something I didn't do, and my best friends didn’t stand up for me.”       “That’s really shitty, Sunset.” Lemon hammered in the point by hammering in the final nail. “Though I’m used to being abandoned…” Sunset could barely hear what Lemon whispered after.       “Come again?” She asked, hoping to get some sort of repeat or other other response.       “I remember tellin ya months ago that my family was military?” Sunset nodded as she remembered the conversation, the two of them talking about morse code when Sunset discovered Vinyl’s hidden message. “Well they left me to live by myself a lot, always out at base or something. Eventually they moved away and let me stay in the old house. Both died when I was fifteen, leaving me with a good chunk of money as well as the Military paying for a bunch of stuff.”       Sunset listened in silence as Lemon unloaded her sad story. Seems that the girl had a sorrow filled past of her own.       “Music is my escape, from the pain and the silence.” Lemon paused her hammering, motioning to Sunset to stand up. “Looks finished to me, hows about we paint this sucker!” Lemon was instantly back to her normal self, looking around for paint to use. “Maybe some flame designs? That would be so boss!”       Sunset shook her head, still digesting everything that she just heard. “Whatever you say, Lemon.”       The pair shared small chat and wise cracks as they painted the birdhouse, the flame designs expertly applied by Lemon Zest after Sunset laid down the base coats.       “Looks finished to me, let’s call the judges over.” Sunset said, waving down the four women. “You fine staying with them? I need to wash my hands.” Lemon nodded, allowing Sunset to make her way over to one of the cleaning booths the room had set up. She found it odd that there was multiple moreorless cubicles set up in the room to allow a few people at a time the ability to wash up.       “Well… Now ain’t this a sour apple.”       I’m going to strangle every person called Murphy, Celestia as my witness! Sunset sighed as she realized she entered on of the booths that wasn’t unoccupied.       “You should probably stay and chat, shugahcube.” Applejack said, the farmer lathering her hands with cleansing soaps.       “I guess I should.” Sunset replied, starting to soap up her own extremities as the pair stood in silence, the air only being disturbed by the sound of rushing waters.       “Ah know we probably have no chance in hell ta make right our fuck up.” Sunset was shocked to hear the farmer cuss. Usually only Rainbow dropped f-bombs in casual speech, Pinkie sometimes as a giggle, but Applejack? The girl was the moral, straight headed one of the group. “But ah hope that ya give us all a chance ta prove ourselves ta ya one more time.”       The farmer turned and faced Sunset, removing her stetson from her head as regarded the amber teen. “Ah’d like ta say that ah’m sorry for how we all treated ya, Sunset. You deserve better, and ah hope you have it, but ah also hope that ya would allow us ta prove that we still want ya.”       Sunset looked into the eyes of the farmer, she knew Applejack was the most honest person around. But then why?       “Why didn’t you believe me back then?” She asked of the farmgirl, Applejack standing in silence as she looked down at the hat in her hands.       “Ah… ah don’t know, Sunset… Ah judged ya unfairly and never gave ya a chance ta prove yerself…” The girl kept her emerald eyes to the ground as she spoke.       “My past actions wouldn’t help in what you all think of me.” Sunset added, watching as Applejack’s head shot up and stared sadly at her.       “But ya proved yerself, multiple times. Ah mean look at the Battle of the Bands. Ya saved us all.” Applejack watched as it was Sunset’s turn to look down at the ground.       “Applejack…” Sunset’s aquamarine orbs never left the tiles beneath her feet. “If Princess Twilight hadn’t asked you five to take care of me, would you have tried to be my friend?”       Applejack looked sadly at the former Wondercolt. “Ah don’t know, Sunset… Ah don’t know…”       Sunset looked up with a sad smile, “A white lie is still a lie, Applejack…” She said before she left the room, leaving the farmer alone once again, slowly moving across the room and joining her teammates over by the Sirens and Twilight.       “Why are you fiddling with you thing so much, Twilight?” Sunset asked as she approached, noticing the lavender girl tinkering with her device.       “Well, I’m getting all sorts of new readings…” Twilight started as her device started buzzing again. “There we go again, what is happening with you, Ethyl?”       “Are you alright, Sunset?” Adagio asked, her wise eyes narrow as she studied the girl, taking in the solemn weight that weighed the girl down. “Holding together alright?”       “Nothing a little relaxation won’t fix.” She said, faking a smile as she relaxed into a vacant chair, only to feel firm hands starting to massage her shoulders.       “Don’t you normally pay for that, Ar?” Indigo asked when she saw Aria working her hands into Sunset’s firm shoulders.       “Ha. Ha. Ha.” Aria said, dead tone showing her disinterest in the snark from the girl. “She looked like she needed it.”       “Ya, what’s up Red? Ya doin okay?” Indigo looked at the captain who had her head leaned back as she melted under the surprisingly delicate hands of the purple Siren.       “I’ll be fine when we get to lunch.” She stated, and was about to continue when Cinch stormed over and started a tirade.       “Royal Pin, Trenderhoof! The both of you shall have weekend studies for the rest of the year! That was an embarrassment to Crystal Prep Academy!” The two teens groaned, skulking off to clean up. “Now, you remaining six shall be competing for the remainder of the event. Up next is a Spelling Bee, and I pray you six are able to win it so as to not have to require a tiebreaker.”       Sunset looked around, taking in the steely gaze of her five remaining teammates, and nodded.       “Let’s rock.”     ********************************         “What. Was. THAT!?” Bellowed Cinch, the six teens recoiling from her fury. The spelling bee had been a disaster for both schools, with eleven of the twelve competitors failing on their first word, with Sunset being the only one to not mess up. “How could you fail such an easy event!? All of you shall be serving week and weekend detention for the rest of the year! I pray to whatever gods you worship that Sunset can win the Elimination Equation.” Cinch stormed off without waiting for a response from the six girls.       “Well someone just hit menopause.” Indigo said when the woman was out of earshot, causing them all to start out in giggles and chortles.       “Yeah, why is she so angry? It’s not our fault they chose such asinine words!” Lemon complained, throwing her hands into the air in frustration.       “I blame my phone having autocorrect.” Sour said coldly, “It does all the work.”       “Well I don’t know about you five, but I am stoked!” Indigo started up, excitement glinting in her eyes. “We get to see Sunset demolish some poor girl in the Elimination Equation! She is the frontrunner for the Crystal Heart Scholastic award after all!”       “This should be a done deal.” Sugarcoat muttered, her usual tone of indifference carried her mood across.       “Thanks for the praise, but I doubt it will be easy. I don’t even know what they have planned.” Sunset said, waving her hands in front of her dismissively as Cadence walked over to her.       “Time to head up to the stage, Sunset.” She wore as forced of a smile as Sunset had ever seen. The teen nodded, keeping stride beside the woman.       “She didn’t ream you out as well, did she?” Sunset asked quietly.       “Nothing more than her usual temperament.” Cadence responded before stepping side and motioning to Sunset to climb the stairs to the stage one last time.       “Welcome you two.” Cinch said, barely welcoming Sunset and her competitor to the stage. “You two shall have five minutes to complete the equation on your respective white boards. You will start when you hear the air horn.”       Sunset nodded, first to Cinch, then to Rarity. Seems Rarity ended being the student voted to try and tie up the event. The air horn cut off her thoughts, and Sunset raced to her whiteboard and studied her equation. Nothing too complicated, easier than what she had been doing in her Advanced Math class. Her hand beat a steady path across the board, her marker scrawling her work across the white surface. Two minutes had hardly passed before Sunset finished, hands clamping the lid back onto the mark and leaving it to sit on the boards tray. She studied it quickly before shrugging, no need to second guess what she knew was right. Eventually the air horn sounded again, signaling the five minutes were up and that the two teens had to step away from their boards. They met in the middle as the Cinch walked over to Sunset’s board first.       “I’m guessing you will want to talk as well?” She asked the marshmallow skinned girl, she glanced over and saw how rough she looked. Make up helped mask her exhaustion, though her hair was not it’s usual expertly styled self. The purple maned teen nodded silently, arms crossing before her as Cinch moved over to look over Rarity’s and immediately shook her head.       “The competitor from Team CHS has given the incorrect answer.” Cinch stated cooly, a few cheers of congratulations arising from the Crystal Prep students that were Sunset’s friends. Cinch glared at the noisy students to silence them, motioning to each girl to return to their teams.       “Great work, Red!” Indigo said, clapping her arm across the taller girl’s back. “I knew you would do it!”       “Indeed,” Twilight added, looking up from her near frenzied device. “That was harder than what Mr. Wave would give us!”       Sunset shrugged as she received her praise from her friends, smiling reservedly as she sat down. Guess she still was a prodigy.       “Tallying up the scores, Crystal prep takes the win in the first part of the Friendship Games.” Celestia announced, gaining the attention of everyone present. “We now welcome you all to follow us outside to the next portion of the Games, the Tri-Cross relay!”       Excited murmurs echoed through everyone, what was this relay gonna be? CHS students knew the field had been closed for awhile, a massive set of walls and roof set over top as the field was renovated for the event.       “Darling…?” Rarity asked, breaking Sunset out of her people watching. “Can I borrow you?”       “Yeah, sure.” Sunset shrugged. “You girls go on ahead, I’ll be right behind you.”       Indigo and Sugarcoat looked at each other and shook their heads as everyone else went along following the principals.       “We’re gonna wait by the doors, give you two some privacy.” Indigo said, before Sugarcoat finished off for her.       “But we need to talk when you are done with her.”       The two Shadowbolts made their way, leaving Sunset and Rarity somewhat alone.       “So you’re the last one, huh?” Sunset asked. These meetings had been taking a toll on her, she could feel the voice trying to talk to her in the back of her mind.       “A lady always allows others to go before her, it’s polite after all.” Rarity said, her normal mock haughtiness instantly coming to the front, before she sighed and deflated. “Truth be told, I didn’t know how to talk to you about this.”       Sunset regarded the fashionista. “Well, just let it out then. No need to try and honey words or not hurt feelings.”       Rarity looked up in shock, worried that Sunset was not happy to be in this situation, not knowing that she was correct, however Sunset just looked back with a bored expression. The pale white girl swallowed before she opened her mouth.       “We all messed up. We used you and threw you away, the Sirens were right. We were selfish, ignorant, petty little cretins who didn’t deserve to know you.” She looked at Sunset’s eyes, trying to glean something from the aquamarine irises. “I doubt we will ever be able to make up for what we did, but I hope you will be generous enough to give us all the chance that we don’t truly deserve of you.”       Rarity walked off without waiting for Sunset’s reply, walking past the two Shadowbolts without a second look and headed towards the next event.       “So what are you two going to grill me about?” Sunset asked as the three of them approached one another.       “I just want you to confirm something for me, Red.” Indigo said. She was always the straightforward one. “Do you think they deserve the chance to even talk to you?”       Sunset paused, and had to think over her answer. Did they deserve a second chance? She didn’t know, it was a difficult question. They had done something that was unforgivable, true, but hadn’t she been pretty bad herself? They had forgiven her, but it required Princess Twilight to ask them to.       “Everyone should be allowed to explain their position and opinion, as long as said explanation is not violent and destructive.” Sunset quoted from Princess Celestia.       Indigo nodded after a moment. “Your turn, Sugarcoat.” She nudged the white haired teen as she backed up.       “I did some digging into this… Anon-A-Miss event was it?” The girl started, Sunset nodding in confirmation before Sugarcoat continued. “It seems like it almost destroyed this school, though it seems for the better as it got you out of an obviously destructive environment.”       “Not exactly in a good way, though.” Sunset said as she ran a hand down one of her arms, tracing the scars through the sleeves of her uniform.       “Undeniable, however you gained something from the event. Knowledge, the ability to judge true friends from the fairweather ones.” she looked down as her tone quieted, Indigo reaching a hand across the girl’s back.       “You want me to tell her?” Indigo asked softly, quite surprising given her usual brash attitude. Sugarcoat nodded as she continued to stare at the ground. “Sugarcoat here was adopted and abused by her adoptive parents. She ’s my First Cousin, and her parent’s, well… They are no longer part of the family and Sugarcoat lives with me and my family.”       “I am so sorry to hear that…” Sunset said quietly, hand rubbing the sombre Sugarcoat’s arm. “I was adopted to, before I ran away on no fault of my mother’s. I was too proud for my own good, refusing to listen to her when I let my pride take me the wrong direction.” Sugarcoat looked up with sad eyes and nodded, appreciating the comment from Sunset. “But no matter what, we are here for you. Let us all be your family.”       Sugarcoat shuddered with silent sobs, Indigo wrapping the girl in a loving embrace.       “We should hurry out there.” Indigo said, he three of them nodding and following Sunset as she led them out of the gym.