As the buses from Crystal Prep made their way to Canterlot High, Sunset Blaze and the rest of Fragment Hunter were all waiting for their friends outside along with Azalea's mother, Ivy. To make sure that the visiting school didn't find out about the Faunus, Vixen used her Semblance to hide her tail while Ivy hid her horns with a bandanna just like Azalea did. "I wonder if Rua's gotten into trouble yet," Layla asked as she inspected her bracelets.
"Probably not," Blaze said. "Everyone would keep her in line. Besides, she would want to wait to beat them at their own game while they're here."
"You got that right, Hot Head," Rua said mentally through the telepathic link Blaze had up.
"Well, looks like you're almost here," Blaze replied back.
"We're just another minute away, so we'll meet you there," Cereza mentioned.
"Alright then," Blaze telepathically stated before turning to the others. "Okay, let's meet up with them," she said as she stood up and walked to where the buses from Crystal Prep would park. As they made their way past the Wondercolt Statue, Fragment Hunter and Ivy saw that Principal Celestia and Vice Principal Luna were already waiting for Crystal Prep. When the buses stopped and dropped off the passengers, the Remnant natives saw Cinch and Cadance speaking to Celestia and Luna respectively as students were exiting the vehicles.
"Vice Principal Luna and our other visiting teachers can help your students get settled if you'd like me to show you around, Principal Cinch," Celestia said. "There have been quite a few changes since your last visit."
"Oh, yes, Principal Celestia. I'm sure that would be fascinating," Principal Cinch replied with sarcasm to humor Celestia. Fragment Hunter and Ivy noted the way Cinch spoke and rolled their eyes in disgust at how Cinch believed the rival school to be beneath her. As they looked at Luna and Cadance however, they could see that the Dean had the opposite opinion of Canterlot High as she and Luna gave each other a warm greeting as they hugged each other.
"Oh, it's always such a pleasure to see you, Dean Cadance," Luna said fondly. "Even if it means another defeat."
"Thank you, Vice Principal Luna, but I hear it's not going to be so easy this time," Cadance stated. "I heard that there's a third team this year as well. Some of them even caught a ride here with us, so I'm wondering if the rest of them are here."
"Indeed they are," Ivy said as she approached the two women. "My name's Ivy Dahlia Holstein," she said as she extended a hand to Dean Cadance. "I'm chaperoning my daughter and her friends."
"Mi Amore Cadenza. Please, call me Cadance," Cadance introduced herself as she shook Ivy's hand. "I'm the Dean of Students at Crystal Prep Academy."
"Seems like a challenging occupation given what kind of students you're helping," Ivy said.
"It does have it's difficulties, but I feel like it's worth it to help the student body improve," Cadance answered before looking in Principal Cinch's direction. "I just wish that some other teachers agreed with me," she said in a slightly annoyed tone.
"I heard how she spoke to Principal Celestia," Ivy stated as she looked in the same direction as Cadance. "I'd say that she needs to take a trip to the spa, but I don't think they have treatments for her bad personality." Cadance tried to suppress a laugh before composing herself again. As Ivy and Cadance hit it off well, Fragment Hunter went to find Twilight and the other members of their group.
As Silver jumped off the bus and landed on all fours, Celadon flipped her hair a little before stepping off the bus herself. After she did that, Twilight poked her head out of the doorway before adjusting her glasses and stepping off with dignity. Unfortunately for her, Indigo Zap was excited to get ready for the Friendship Games and shoved Twilight in her haste. Because of that, Twilight lost her balance and ended up falling on top of Sunny Flare. "Seriously," the girl asked in annoyance as she and Twilight picked themselves up.
"HEY! It was an accident," Celadon said as she scolded Sunny Flare.
"It's not like she could've prevented it in your teammate's rush," Cereza mentioned as she got off the bus with Slate and Azalea behind her.
"They're right. I didn't mean to," Twilight tried to apologize. Sunny Flare just shot dirty looks at Twilight and the others as she angrily walked off. Twilight groaned as she stood back up, but almost bumped into Sour Sweet. "Oh, sorry. Why don't you go ahead?"
"You are such a sweetie," Sour Sweet said kindly before speaking to Twilight in a hushed and harsh tone. "I am watching you!" As she left, Sour Sweet glared at Twilight. Twilight was upset at how her classmates were treating her, but Azalea walked up to her and put a comforting hand on her shoulder. A quiet smile from her somehow managed to get Twilight's spirits up. As Rua was kept from going after Sour Sweet, Twilight noticed something about her amulet as Azalea and the others met up with the rest of Fragment Hunter.
The device that Twilight wore as a necklace began to hum and a few lights on it pointed toward the school. Twilight smiled with hope that she could find the energy signatures that she was studying, but turned back to the Crystal Prep students behind her and had an uncertain look. As Spike briefly poked his head out of her backpack, Twilight decided to go do what she originally planned and investigate the strange readings coming from Canterlot High. Sneaking away from her classmates, Twilight went and headed toward the school with Fragment Hunter following her to keep an eye on the girl. As Twilight reached the door, two girls who Fragment Hunter recognized from their last visit as Lyra Heartstrings and Sweetie Drops (also known as Bon Bon) waved hello to the girl they thought was the princess from Equestria. "Hi, Twilight," Bon Bon greeted, but Sci-Twi was too focused on her amulet to reply and the two girls felt ignored.
As Twilight made her way inside, she continued to follow the tracking device and more students began to talk to her. As more and more people said hello, Twilight was nervously answering back despite her confusion about the number of Canterlot High students apparently knowing her. Eventually, Twilight ended up bumping into Flash Sentry and knocked each other to the floor, making Twilight's glasses fall off her face as well. As they recovered, Flash noticed who he bumped into and was pleasantly surprised at who he thought he met. "Twilight? I almost didn't recognize you," Flash said as he helped Sci-Twi to her feet. After he did, Twilight began to move her hands in front of her as she couldn't see and Flash looked at the ground to see the girl's glasses. "When did you start wearing glasses," he asked.
"Um, like, since forever," Twilight said with a shrug of her shoulders.
"Oh, so how long are you here for," Flash asked as he kneeled down to pick up her glasses.
"Just for the Friendship Games," Sci-Twi answered.
"Right. Of course. We'll totally win with you here," Flash said as he started to put Twilight's glasses back on for her. As they looked at each other, Twilight noticed her amulet began to glow and point in another direction.
"Uh, I gotta go," Twilight said she ran off with her amulet guiding her.
Flash awkwardly said goodbye, but was embarrassed at how he acted in front of who he thought was Princess Twilight. Fragment Hunter and a girl affectionately nicknamed 'Derpy' all consoled him as they showed up. "One day," Vixen said as she tousled Flash's hair for a second.
"I think she's heading to the music room," Silver told the others.
"Well, let's beat her there," Rua suggested as she grabbed everyone together and teleported them in a purplish-red flash of light.
In the music room that the Rainbooms finished practice in, Fragment Hunter managed to teleport in and saw what was happening. Everyone was in a variety of different costumes as Rarity went around and made adjustments to whatever was needed. "What the hell is going on here," Rua asked bluntly.
"Rarity decided to make costumes for the Friendship Games because we don't know what events are going to happen," Pinkie Pie said as she sat on the piano wearing a cowgirl outfit.
Slate looked at Pinkie's attire and spoke up. "You kinda look like my sister when she decided to dress up similar to me, Pinkie. The main difference would be that you don't have my eye color." Pinkie only giggled at the gunslinger's mention of his family.
"By the way, why did you post a video of my fight against the Dazzlings from the Battle of the Bands party online," Azalea asked Pinkie with a stern face.
"Because I thought everyone would enjoy watching a fun video," Pinkie stated. Getting an answer, Azalea just rolled her eyes with a small smirk before checking out the other outfits Rarity had prepared.
"Oh, I just remembered that I still have another costume rack with outfits I designed inspired by all your stories from Remnant," Rarity said as she pulled out a new clothing rack and showed Fragment Hunter. As they looked at the selections, they saw that each outfit was similar to combat uniforms worn by their friends from Beacon and the other Academies. "It was a bit of a challenge getting them to be both functional and fabulous, but I feel like I've done a great job."
"Uh, Rarity, these outfits are great, but why would you put so much time and effort into clothes we might not even wear," Applejack asked as Rarity adjusted her shirt to fit properly. "You're gonna exhaust yourself before the games even start."
Rarity scoffed at Applejack as she placed a dress back onto a rack. "Don't be silly, darling! Putting effort into clothes is what I live for, and spending time on my friends fills me with energy," Rarity exclaimed before she surged with magic. Her ears changed shape and placement, her hair grew longer, and she finished her transformation with a dynamic pose as she floated in the air.
Fragment Hunter and the Rainbooms were all amazed at the sight of Rarity ponying up without music. "And magic, too. I guess," Sunset Shimmer said as Rarity floated in front of them.
Just as Rarity transformed, Twilight was continuing to track the energy signature she detected while walking down the hallway toward the music room. Suddenly, her amulet popped open and surprised Twilight as her glasses began to slip off her face. In the classroom, Rarity's magic began to flow out the door and drift toward Sci-Twi. When the stream of magic approached her, the amulet began to absorb and contain it. At the same time, Rarity floated back down to the ground and began to feel tired. "Actually, Applejack, now that you mention it, I suppose I could use a tiny break," Rarity told her worried friends as she held her head and her ears turned to normal.
"Vixen, go find my mom and bring her here," Azalea said to the Fox Faunus as Rarity collapsed and Applejack caught her. Nodding, Vixen decided to jump out the window to make her way outside. "Why did she jump out the window," Azalea asked.
Soon, Twilight entered the band room and saw everybody inside. When the Rainbooms saw the girl, they were all excited to see who they thought was their friend. "Well, I'll be. You should have told us you were coming," Applejack said as she wrapped an arm around Sci-Twi's shoulder.
"Darling, those glasses. What are you wearing? It's so... severe," Rarity questioned as she tried to stand up, but was still a bit woozy.
"My uniform," Twilight replied in confusion as she looked down at her clothes when Rarity asked.
"Your uniform for what," Fluttershy now asked.
"For... Crystal Prep," Twilight hesitatingly answered. "But, why does everyone at this school know who I am?"
"Remember when I said that we had a friend named Twilight? Well, you look very similar to her," Azalea told Sci-Twi.
"Almost like looking in a mirror," Sunset Blaze said as she stood near Sunset Shimmer and got a chuckle out of Fragment Hunter.
"Wait, back up for a second," Rainbow Dash said as she heard Twilight earlier. "Did you say 'Crystal Prep'?"
Suddenly, Spike popped out of Twilight's backpack and barked. "Spike," Fluttershy and Rarity both exclaimed as they recognized the dog's appearance.
"You know my dog's name, too," Twilight asked in surprise as Fluttershy started to pet Spike.
"Yeah, the Twilight we know has a similar dog. It's a pretty common name for a dog and a lot of breeds can look alike," Lapis said. Suddenly, Silver and Spike sensed somebody else coming toward the band room and the boy made sure that Spike was hidden and zipped up Twilight's backpack before he jumped out the same window as Vixen did. "That was weird," Lapis said before she saw Principal Celestia and Principal Cinch approaching.
"And our music program has especially taken off," Celestia mentioned to Cinch before she saw the Crystal Prep Twilight speaking to the Rainbooms. "Twilight?"
"This is getting ridiculous," Twilight exclaimed because now the teachers of CHS were confusing her for the other Twilight that Azalea mentioned.
"I must apologize for the curiosity of my prized student," Principal Cinch said to Celestia.
"Your student," Celestia asked before Sunset Blaze used her Semblance to mentally talk to the principal.
"She's apparently the Twilight Sparkle of this world. And don't freak out, you're just hearing me with my powers," Blaze explained.
"The smart ones are always curious," Cinch said. Despite not liking her for blackmailing Twilight into competing, Lapis and Blaze had to agree with her on that aspect. "I'll return her to check in with the rest of her classmates," Cinch said as she lead a nervous Sci-Twi away.
As the two from Crystal Prep left, Vixen managed to return with Ivy and the latter placed a hand on Rarity's head. With a green glow coming from her hand, Ivy used her own Semblance to heal and energize Rarity back to health. At the same time, Silver came in through the open window again when Cinch left. "I swear that ever since the Fall Formal, this school has been getting involved with all sorts of crazy things," Celestia commented as she left to prepare for the welcome party for the Friendship Games.
"I'm going to check on Twilight," Azalea said as she left the room and went in the same direction as Sci-Twi. "Come on, Vinyl," the Cow Faunus said to her headphone-wearing friend and the second girl followed silently.
"And because nobody else is doing it right now," Pinkie said before she turned to the window. She soon ran toward it and jumped through with an excited squeal. "Wheeeeeee!" Everyone watching just rolled their eyes at Pinkie's antics and continued on their day.
Back out at the courtyard, Twilight began to explain what she could to Cinch. "I'm sorry, Principal Cinch. I was just following these strange readings. Actually, they led me to those girls and-"
"Twilight, what you do in your free time is of little interest to me, but while you're here, I... all of Crystal Prep, in fact, require your complete focus," Cinch told Twilight, who understood what Cinch wanted. Azalea and Vinyl stayed hidden with the former's Semblance and kept an eye on what was going on.
"But why does everyone in this school seem to know me," Sci-Twi asked. "That Azalea girl said that there was another Twilight, but I don't think that I would be mistaken that easily."
"Perhaps they're trying to confuse you. Perhaps they're trying to lure you away," Cinch told Twilight her hypothesis.
Twilight was skeptical about Principal Cinch's belief about that. "It didn't feel like anyone was trying to lure me," Twilight said. "In fact, I think that Azalea was trying to get to know me more."
"I don't know what they're planning, but I guarantee, it isn't to help us win," Cinch told Twilight before guiding her back to the other Crystal Prep students. As Twilight quietly followed, Azalea and Vinyl uncloaked and glared at Cinch's direction before deciding to stay with Twilight to keep her company.