Twilight frantically moved about her room, a stream of nervous mutterings rolling past her lips as she made sure everything was in order. Her books were dusted, her desk double organized compared to its normal standards of order, and, most importantly, her more embarrassing "treasures" kept stored in an electrically charged thirty two digit code safe under her bed. Petal watched her from the bed, the Wraith assuming her human form sporting a jet black pair of pajamas covered with gray skulls and spiders. She laid on her side with her head propped up on her hand, mild amusement decorating her face.
"Geez Sparky, chill," Petal chuckled. "It's just a slumber party."
Twilight froze at that, hand just inches away from moving her desk lamp a fraction of an inch for the tenth time.
"Just a slumber party?" she whispered, incredulity heavy in her tone.
The teen suddenly turned towards Petal, exasperation rolling off of her in waves as she cried, "This isn't just a slumber party! "This is my first slumber party and the first time I've ever hosted a party! This is also the night Lemon's going to tell us all what has been bothering her! All of that means that this party needs to be a success!"
"I get that," Petal nodded, raising a brow as she sat up. "But I don't think you need flip to out over this."
"Y-You're right," Twilight gulped. "I just need to relax and let things play out, right?"
"Exactly," Petal smiled.
"Besides," she nervously chuckled. "It isn't as if I'll do something stupid and everyone will hate me for it and then...I'll...be alone......again......"
All of the life seemed to fall out of Twilight at the end of that statement, the girl's eyes turning blank and distant. She flinched as life suddenly jumped back into her, the girl suddenly looking around as if snapping out of a trance. A hint of dread filled Petal at the display, the sharp spike of true despair she briefly felt from her friend instantly flipping her smile upside-down.
"Maybe I should give the room one more sweep, just in case," she mumbled, moving towards her bookshelf for the tenth time that evening.
"Let's try something else," Petal frowned, sitting up. "You've got a book for this kind of thing, right?"
"Um, yes?" she sheepishly gulped, facing the bookshelf housing the book in question.
"Why don't we pop that open and see if we can set up a game plan?"
"I don't think Sleep Talk wrote that book with a party like this in mind," she groaned.
"Let's give it a shot anyways," Petal huffed, standing up and marching to her friend's side. "Better than watching you slowly lose your shit over this."
Before Twilight could protest, Petal plucked the book from its shelf and opened it to the first page.
"Let's see... ' The foundation of a good slumber party, be it casual or formal, is rooted in proper preparation.' Gee, no shit Sherlock. 'While there can be an infinite number of themes, there are generally a few basic necessities that work in all cases. These are sleeping arrangements, food and drinks, activities, and space.' "
Petal looked up from the book at her friend with a flat expression as she said, "You sure this guy's name is Sleep Talk and not Painfully Obvious? I mean, I've never thrown a party either, but I can figure out this much at least."
"It does say that those are the basics," Twilight nervously chuckled. "What else does it say?"
She gave the page a quick skim, then flatly stated, "Just a bunch of recommendations for the basics. What the hell is pizza?"
"You've never had pizza?" Twilight gaped.
"No?" Petal blinked, leaning away from her friend.
A wide smile joined the teen's wide eyes at that, but instead of answering, she ran out of the room calling for her mom. Petal stared blankly at the door for a moment, struggling to understand what the hell just happened. Pushing her confusion to the back of her mind, she went back to reading the book in her hand.
Did I say the secret word or something? she thought, making her way back to the bed.
"Humans," she muttered, taking a seat on the bed, turning a page in the book. "Geez, this guy even put a list of activities in this thing. ....What the hell is a mud mask?"
***
Traffic was thin that night, especially for a saturday. This was a massive boon for Harshwhinny, one she took with some reluctance as she drove her sister and her friends towards Twilight's home. While she maintained her usual stoic mask, she couldn't stop herself from nervously peeking at her sister in her passenger seat. She knew that Lemon was fine, that she was a more than capable judge of character, but there was something about Twilight that didn't feel right. The girl seemed to give off an aura that felt like it didn't belong, almost tainted in a way that put parts of her on edge.
That went double for her friend, Petal.
While the rough girl seemed harmless enough, that sense of wrongness seemed to pour out of her like an open fountain. As such, there were a few conditions that needed to be met for her to agree to this sleepover. Chief among them was meeting Twilight's parents. A formality at worst, but the most effective way to see if what she was feeling was unique to the two girls or not. It was also the best chance to make sure they had her number if anything went wrong, a condition she knew her sister would forget the second she entered the house.
"Are you sure you have everything?" Harshwhinny asked.
"Yes sis," Lemon groaned, texting on her phone.
"Phone charger?" she pressed.
"Yes," Lemon flatly confirmed.
"Toothbrush?"
"Yes."
"Pajamas?"
"Yes."
Toiletries?"
"Yep."
"Unmentionables?"
"Indigo brought extra," Lemon shrugged. "Should be right next to her bong."
"Pardon?" Harshwhinny blinked.
"Kidding," Lemon snickered. "I'm good, sis."
"Good," she sighed, her surprise quickly absorbed by her pokerface.
"Don't worry Ms. Zeal, we'll keep an eye on her," Indigo chuckled.
"Between puffs of weed," Sugar stated, staring blankly at her phone.
"Just Harshwhinny is acceptable," Harshwhinny huffed, then peeked at her rearview mirror into the back seat as she uneasily added, "Also, I feel obligated to ask if you are, in fact, joking."
"Yes," Sugar stated, still scrolling through her phone. "I don't share."
Lemon and Indigo laughed at that while Harshwhinny struggled to solve the riddle that is the girl in her back seat.
"I remember why I do not interact with you directly too frequently when you visit," Harshwhinny huffed.
"I have that affect on people," Sugar shrugged. "By the way, Twilight's house is coming up."
Sure enough, when Harshwhinny took full stock of the streets around her, she was a couple minutes away from the house. Mentally chastising herself for the slip-up, she pulled up to the curve near to the house's driveway. The prim woman quickly exited her vehicle, her cold eyes scanning the premises while her wards fished their things out of her trunk.
The home was as unassuming as could be, a middle class suburban dark blue two-story house. The grass was trimmed to her strict standards and the driveway was nearly spotless. A quick glance at the neighboring houses revealed similar standards. Mildly impressed, she straightened out her lavender blazer and made her way towards the house in question, her charges not far behind her.
So far so good, she thought, knocking on the door. Let us see what is hidden behind the rapper, shall we?
A few seconds later, Twilight and whom Harshwhinny assumed was Twilight's mother answered the door.
"Welcome!" the woman cheered, stepping aside to make room for the group. "Come in! Come in! We just got everything set up!"
"Thank you, Mrs. Velvet," Sugar nodded, letting a small smile creep onto her face as she accepted the invitation.
"Thanks ma'am," Indigo smirked, doing the same.
"Ditto," Lemon chuckled, taking point at Twilight's left and pulling her into a one-armed hug. "This is gonna' rock!"
"Right," Twilight chuckled, a hint of nerves coloring her tone.
"Are we forgetting something?" Harshwhinny frowned, raising a brow.
"Oh! Right," Lemon awkwardly chuckled, fishing a folded piece of paper out of her pocket. "Thanks, sis."
The woman gave Harshwhinny a brief subtle surprised glance at that, then raised a brow when Lemon handed her the paper.
"That's all of my sister's info if something happens.
"Oh, I see," Velvet blinked, unfolding the paper.
I'm not, like, super sick or anything," she hastily added. "But you know, just incase and stuff."
"I understand," Velvet smiled. "Thank you, Lemon, was it?"
Lemon nodded.
"Thank you," she chuckled. "Now, unless there is anything else, I say we all get this party started, right honey?"
"Right," Twilight sheepishly nodded. "Come on everyone."
With that, Twilight led her friends towards her room. As they did, Velvet gave her guest her full attention, her smile slightly wilting under the stern stare aimed at her. Unnoticed by the mother, a faint trace of relief graced the older sister's features. The wrongness she felt from Twilight and Petal was not present in her mother or her home. A mixed blessing, considering the implications, but one she would take to keep some level of peace.
So for so good. Let's see if it will stay that way.
"Good evening," Harshwhinny primly said, holding out a hand. "I am Harshwhinny Zeal."
"Twilight Velvet," she chuckled, hiding her nerves as she shook the offered hand. "It's a pleasure to meet you."
"Likewise," Harshwhinny nodded, maintaining her prim demeanor. "Hopefully, my sister won't cause you too much trouble tonight."
"I think I can handle it," Velvet chuckled. "So long as she doesn't burn my house down, I doubt she could throw anything at me I haven't already seen."
"Do not let her hear that," Harshwhinny snorted. "She may take that as a challenge."
"Has she ever turned a toaster into a helicopter drone?" Velvet smirked, crossing her arms and raising a brow.
"No?" she blinked.
"Created a potato-powered vacuum droid?"
"Is that even possible?" Harshwhinny balked.
"How's about a rapidly evolving anti-virus program?"
"She created that?!" Harshwhinny sputtered.
"Sort've," she shrugged. "Apparently, it keeps redirecting her browser to porn sights. That was not a fun conversation to have with a fifth-grader, let me tell ya'."
"She made that in the fifth grade?" Harshwhinny asked, wondering just what kind of madness her sister had wondered into now.
"Yep," Velvet chuckled. "And those are the tamest things my little girl put me through over the years. So yeah, I think I can handle just about anything Lemon or the rest of Twilight's new group can throw at me."
"I see," Harshwhinny nodded, her prim persona quickly falling back into place. "Then I leave her in your very capable hands."
"No problem," she smiled, holding up the note Lemon handed her as she cheerily added, "But I think I'll keep this close for the rest of the night, just in case"
"That is all I ask," Harshwhinny sighed.
Perhaps I should put Petal on the bottom of my list of oddities.
***
"You know, this stuff's not bad," Petal smirked, taking another bite of her pizza slice.
"Told you," Twilight giggled.
After leading her other friends to her room, the nerdy girl returned to the kitchen to keep Petal company. While they waited for the rest of their group to get ready and dressed, Twilight helped the Wraith get acquainted with yet another human custom. Given how human-like Petal was most of the time, it was really easy for her to forget that she wasn't one.
"Is it okay, though?" Twilight quietly asked, nodding at Petal's loaded plate. "I mean, I've seen you eat normal food before, but-"
"It's fine," Petal chuckled, wiping her lips with her wrist. "It won't hurt me, but it won't help me either. It's like eating...um.... what's it called again?"
She closed her eyes in thought for a moment, before they popped open and with a snap of her fingers said, "Candy! That's what its called. It's like eating a few pieces of candy. It tastes good, but it won't give my body what it needs to function."
"So you don't get any nutritional value out of it," Twilight mused.
"Exactly," Petal nodded.
"Do you still digest food the same way humans can?" she asked, a hint of her inner scientist peeking out.
Before Petal could answer, the sound of Twilight's bedroom door opening caught their attention. Seconds later, three sets of footsteps could be heard making their way through the upstairs hallway and down the stairs. When the three girls made it to the kitchen, Twilight and Petal were met by a curious sight.
Lemon wore the same thing she did the last time the duo visited her home, a baggy rocker T-shirt and gray sweatpants. Indigo wore a loose white tank top and black sweats, but her's and Lemon's outfits barely held their attention for more than a second. That honer went to Sugar, who decided to grace their presence in a brown teddybear onesie, her silver hair hanging loose under her hood.
"What...the hell...are you wearing?" Petal balked, not sure if she should laugh or not.
"I always wear this to bed," Sugar flatly stated, making her way towards the kitchen table.
"Really?" Petal blinked.
"It's warm," she nodded, plucking a pizza slice from a box on the table.
"You look good in it," Twilight awkwardly offered.
"I'm fierce," Sugar stated, making a dull "Roar," sound before she took a bite.
"I don't know if you're serious or trying to fuck with me," Petal frowned, raising a brow.
"You're the second person to tell me something like that today," she nodded.
"Just roll with it," Indigo chuckled, taking a seat at the table. "You wouldn't think it, but Sugar can be a little weird sometimes."
"I'm not weird," Sugar frowned. "I am completely normal."
"Says the girl dressed up like a carnival prize," Lemon giggled, joining her friends.
"What I choose to sleep in is my business and no one else's," Sugar stated, the barest trace of a huff coloring her flat tone.
Petal let out a small chuckle and said, "Here and I thought Lemon was the spontaneous one."
"She is," Sugar frowned. "Like I said. I'm the normal one."
"If you say so," the Wraith shrugged.
"Anyway!" Twilight stiffly cheered. "I hope you all are ready to have fun tonight!"
"You know it," Indigo smirked. "So, what's the plan, Slugger?"
"Well," she smiled, fishing her phone out of her pocket. "I do have a small list of things we could do."
"Right, small," Petal snorted, rolling her eyes and propping her head up on the table on her arm.
Twilight beamed, ignoring Petal's comment with her eyes locked onto her phone screen.
"After eating, we have make-overs, Truth or Dare, Twister, a few computer games, and a movie."
"What kind of movie?" Lemon asked around a mouthful of pizza.
"Human Centipede," Petal shrugged.
"NO!" Indigo and Sugar yelled, Lemon to busy coughing to offer her own response.
"What? What's up?" Petal blinked, the terror she tasted from the girls instantly setting off alarm bells.
"Is it that bad?" Twilight nervously asked.
"Worse," Lemon choked out, pounding her chest.
"Neither of you heard about it?" Sugar asked, raising a brow.
"No? What's it about?" Petal asked, sitting up a little straighter.
"Really screwed up stuff," Indigo cringed. "Trust me. You don't want to watch that."
"Agreed," Lemon solemnly nodded. "That's, like, a hard pass from me."
"Guess I'm going to need to pick another movie," Twilight frowned, staring down at her phone again.
"Why do you even have a movie like that?" Sugar asked.
"I don't," Twilight groaned. "Petal found it online an hour ago."
The trio of girls gave Petal raised brows.
The Wraith shrugged and said, "Hey, not the first time I've found something weird online. At least it was on accident this time."
"Do I want to know?" Sugar sighed.
"No," Twilight flatly stated, glaring daggers at the grinning Wraith at her right.
Petal just laughed it off and grabbed another slice of pizza.
As this was happening, Lemon and Indigo mulled over what they were planning to do tonight. It was going to happen tonight. They were determined to make it happen tonight. The only question was when? Until they had an answer to that, they hid their anxieties behind their smiles, completely unaware of the worry it sparked in one of the girls sitting across from them.
***
With an unknown disaster avoided and bellies filled, the first event of Twilight's Slumber Party went into full swing. The second the five girls made it into Twilight's room, they broke up into two groups. Thanks to having an admittedly limited understanding of how to do more than brush her hair, Twilight opted to take on a assistant role in her group, something Indigo and Sugar greatly appreciated. Meanwhile, Petal and Lemon sat on the floor on the opposite end of the room, the Wraith delicately working on her friend's face with practiced precision.
"You're pretty good at this," Lemon smiled, peaking at a small hand mirror.
"Well, I did help Twilight fix her wardrobe," Petal giggled, still keeping her focus as she applied some eyeliner. "Guess I knew how to do this crap at some point."
"Oh, right," Lemon wilted.
When Twilight and Petal told them everything, one of the things that came up was Petal's amnesia. It was brief, more of a passing clip-note the Wraith quickly shoved past in favor of other more pressing facts. It wasn't hard for Lemon to pick up on what kind of button that particular topic was.
Taking a deep breath, she met Petal's eyes and asked, "Do you want to talk about it?"
Petal briefly froze, then sighed out a tired, "No."
"Are you sure?" she pressed.
Petal's frown deepened at that as she nodded.
"Oh," Lemon sighed. "Okay. Just, don't keep it all bottled up, okay?"
Petal somberly smiled at that.
"Talking from experience, right?"
"Yeah," Lemon sadly chuckled.
Petal snorted, the irony of the whole situation starting to hit her.
"I think we're going to have plenty of chances to talk about it pretty soon," Petal sighed, putting all of the makeup away. "What with all of the tests Twilight wants to run."
"Dude, don't remind me," she shivered. "You don't think she'll do anything weird to me, right? Like, I'm not going to come out of this with extra arms or anything like that?"
"Nah," she Petal chuckled, reaching for a full hand mirror laying on the floor nearby. "The most she'll do is make you piss in a cup or take some hair samples."
"That's good," she sighed, then sheepishly asked, "So, how do I look?"
"You tell me," Petal smirked, aiming the mirror at her.
Lemon's eyes widened, her jaw dropping at who she saw staring back at her. While not an expert when it came to makeup, Lemon couldn't deny the full scope of Petal's skills. What little makeup she could see in her reflection was so subtly applied, that she wouldn't know it was there if she couldn't literally feel its presence. In contrast, it drew more attention to her best features. A sheepish smile spread across her face as she took the mirror, looking at herself from different angles.
"Holy cow! I'm freaking hot!" Lemon gushed.
"Damn straight," Petal chuckled, then placed a hand on Lemon's shoulder with a soft smile as she added, "And don't worry. You've got this."
Lemon didn't need to think too hard to understand her friend's words. Riding her good mood into a much needed confidence boost, a determined smile graced her lips as she turned her head towards Petal and nodded. Petal returned the smile, glad to feel the girl's stress start to dim.
Taking a deep breath, Lemon donned a more serious look and whispered, "So, when do you think I should do it? I mean, I don't what to kill the mood or anything, but I really need to tell everyone about this."
Petal mulled that over for a moment, then said, "I don't think I should be the one to make that call."
"Right," she sighed, wilting slightly.
Petal smirked at that and said, "Just try not to think to much about it. As soon as you see an opening, jump on it and we'll take it from there, okay?"
"Okay?" she nodded, her a small smile creeping onto he face. "Thanks dude."
"Anytime," Petal chuckled.
***
After some time, the five girls found themselves sitting in a circle at the heart of Twilight's room. While most of them were happy with the results of the previous activity, that could not be said for Sugar. The girl leveled a harsh glare at Indigo, the sporty girl looking sheepish as her friend tried to brush away the damage done to her hair.
"You are never doing my hair again," she frowned, her eyes drilling a pair of holes into Indigo's soul.
"Sorry," Indigo gulped, chuckling nervously.
"Oh lay off, Sugar," Petal smirked. "That mohawk looked bitch'n on you."
"I don't want to look like a punk," she flatly stated.
"I'm surprised she could get it to stay like that," Lemon laughed. "That was like, what, ten pounds of gel?"
"Half a pound," Twilight sheepishly added, looking at the ground and nervously tapping her index fingers together. "Plus a full can of hair spray."
"I rest my case," Sugar frowned, wincing slightly when her brush found another cluster of knots.
Petal chuckled at that, then aimed a soft smile at Twilight and said, "Speaking of hair, liking the new look Sparky."
"Th-Thanks," Twilight stammered, a small blush coloring her cheeks.
In place of her usual straight-lace "Librarian" style, the girl's hair was styled into a spiraling forward sweep. It had the dual effect of making Twilight look a lot less prim and added to her shy charms. It also made her hair look a lot shorter than it actually was, a trick that raised quite a few questions in the Wraith's head.
"You should totally go to school like that, Lemon beamed.
"N-No way!" Twilight sputtered, hiding her face behind her hands.
"Alright, that's enough," Sugar sighed. "If you keep it up, she's going to pass out."
"Right," Indigo chuckled. "So, what's next, Slugger?"
Gathering back some of her whits, Twilight lowered her hands and sheepishly stammered, "Tr-Truth or Dare."
"Now we're talking," Indigo smirked, eying her friends. "So how are we doing this? Spinning a bottle? Spinner app?"
"Spinner app," Twilight nodded, taking out her phone, activating the app in question, and laying in the middle of their circle.
"I assume we all no the rules, right?" Sugar asked, staring at Petal.
"You wait until the spinner stops and whoever it points to has to do a dare or answer a question, right?" Petal asked, locking eyes with the girl.
Sugar nodded.
"Sounds easy enough," Petal shrugged. "Let's get this game going!"
With that, she tapped the screen and activated the spinner.
After a few seconds, the spinner stopped, pointing at Sugar.
"Okay, so, truth or dare?" Petal asked.
"Truth," Sugar stated.
"Chicken," she snorted. "Alright, have you ever had a boyfriend?"
"Yes," Sugar stated, tone flatter than usual. "And we are still together."
Before anyone could press her for more information, she activated the spinner again. After a few seconds, Indigo became the next target.
"Truth or dare?" Sugar asked.
"Dare," Indigo smirked.
A small smile formed on Sugar's lips as she said, "I dare you to kiss Petal on the cheek."
Indigo's face turned bright red at that, opening and closing her mouth like a fish before she sputtered, "W-What?!"
"You heard her," Petal shrugged.
Indigo looked back and forth between the two girls in shock, then sheepishly said, "Well...I mean.....if you're cool with it."
Everyone watched with bated breath as Indigo crawled towards Petal, quickly pecked her cheek, and shot back to her spot .
"Demon," Indigo muttered, her glare almost as hot as her blush.
"That was for my hair," Sugar smirked.
"Whatever," she spat, activating the spinner.
When it stopped, Lemon leveled a challenging smirk at her friend.
"Truth or dare?" Indigo asked.
"Dare," Lemon nodded, ready for anything.
"Dare, huh? Alright," Indigo smirked, crossing her arms in thought for a minute, then, with an evil smile said, "I dare you to sing Barbie Doll."
In a matter of seconds, all enthusiasm was seemingly sucked out of the young rocker.
"Ugh, you know I hate pop songs," Lemon groaned,
"Too bad," Indigo chuckled. "You picked dare, so start singing."
"Fine," she grimaced, standing up.
She glared at her friend for a minute before she closed her he eyes and took a deep breath. When she opened them, she sported a painfully fake smile and started to sing. For the next three minutes, everyone was exposed to the saccharine sweet life of a barbie doll in song form. Indigo watched Sugar with a smug smile on her face, the stone-faced girl's left eye starting to twitch in response. Twilight had a similar reaction, only it looked like she was trying to understand what part of the song was hurting her over the pain itself. Petal just took in all in, trying to not fall over laughing at what had to be the dumbest thing she had every heard.
Humans are so fucking weird! she thought, struggling to breathe past her laughter.
"I'm gonna kill you all," Lemon grumbled, bitterly crossing her arms as she retook her seat.
"C'mon Lemon, I think we could use an encore," Indigo smirked.
"Sleep with one eye open tonight," Lemon frowned, reactivating the spinner.
After a moment of traded glares and smirks between the two girls, the spinner made its decision.
"Guess it's my turn," Petal smirked.
"This should be good," Indigo chuckled.
"Alright Petal," Lemon sighed, dawning a small smile. "Truth or dare?"
Petal mulled that over for a few seconds, then said, "Truth."
"Chicken," Sugar flatly stated, smiling softly.
"Would any of you three take a dare from Lemon?" Petal asked, quirking a brow.
"Point taken," Sugar nodded.
"Yeah, you got me there," Indigo sighed.
Twilight nervously chuckled, eyes refusing to meet either girl's gazes.
"I'm not that bad, guys," Lemon deadpanned.
"Yes you are," Sugar nodded.
"Chickens," Lemon huffed.
"Hey, I want to live," Indigo shrugged.
"Whatever," she snorted, giving Petal a scrutinizing grin. "What should I ask you?"
Lemon mulled this over, actually putting some real thought into her question. She knew that a bulk of what Petal would tell the group would be a lie, parts of a very well constructed backstory she cooked up with Twilight for situations like these. Lemon didn't want that; she wanted to know something legitimate about her friend. That left her with one question of its own. What should she ask?
Eventually, she made her decision.
"What is your biggest fear?"
Petal reeled back a bit at that, her smirk slipping slightly. Everyone zeroed in on her, eager to see where this was going. While they knew that everyone had something, it was hard for any of them, save for Twilight or Lemon, to imagine Petal being scared of anything in particular. At the same time, Petal struggled to think of an answer. As a Wraith, she had only two main fears that constantly hovered over her; The Queen and The Gifted. On a personal level, there was one thing that chilled her more than them. It was one of the main reasons she put off sleep for as much as she could. It was the reason that when that unfortunate need came for her, her bed was hidden in a cloud of Miasma. Even thinking about it made her feel so small, so helpless, and put a slight tremble down her spine. The white light, the searing pain, the sheer terror of feeling her core burning away. Who knew a dream could be so frightening?
In a voice as fragile as glass and as soft as silk, she gave her answer.
"Fire."
A thick silence filled the room, no one sure how to react to their friend's sudden shift in character. Fortunately for them, said friend decided to take that particular responsibility away from them.
"Anyway, let's see who's next on the chopping block," Petal chuckled, forcing a small smile as she reactivated the spinner.
"Right," Indigo awkwardly chuckled.
Sugar nodded, her face as unreadable as ever, eyes carefully studying her friend.
Lemon didn't respond, nervously gnawing on her lower lip as she avoided making eye contact with Petal.
When the spinner made its decision, a more genuine smile formed on Petal's face.
"Alright Twilight, truth or dare?"
Twilight flinched, then hastily stammered out, "T-T-Truth!"
"Nice," Petal chuckled. "Now, how about you tell the class who you've been crushing on recently?"
Now it was Twilight's turn to be the center of attention, the girl in question a sputtering blushing mass under their amused gazes. The bookish girl gave her a red-faced glare, her blush spreading to her ears. Petal's smirk grew at that, glad to feel the sudden dark shift in the group fading away. A part of her felt a little bad for throwing Twilight to the wolves, but only a little. She leaned back as she waited for her friend to answer her question, mulling over how she was going to make this up to her later.
***
The party had finally reached its climax, the five girls now preparing to turn in for the night. In spite of having a bed of her own, Twilight joined her friends on the floor with a sleeping bag. Petal watched them all lay out their sleeping bags, the Wraith sitting on hers lightly tasting the emotions around her. Even without the faint taste of nervous tension surrounding her, she knew that Lemon was getting ready to make her move. What made her mentally raise a brow was the fact that Lemon wasn't the only girl that seemed to be psyching herself up.
Hiding her curiosity behind a lazy smile, she watched her friends go about their business, chuckling lightly about what they had learned from the Truth-or-Dare game they played as they late hour took its toll on them. Every now and then, Lemon would give her a passing glance, to which the Wraith would give her a subtle nod, nudging her to take the chance she knew was coming. At the same time, she noticed Indigo giving Twilight a similar look, the bookish teen giving the same kind of response as Petal.
Once everyone was laying down and the light was turned off, when Petal felt the anxiety between the two girls start to reach its zenith, did they both make their moves.
Lemon was slightly faster, letting out a nervous, "Hey, dudes, I um....can I....I want to get somethings off of my chest."
"Is this about how you keep acting aggressive around this time each year?" Sugar bluntly asked, still laying on her sleeping bag.
"Y...Yeah," Lemon nodded, eyes locked on the patch of ceiling over where she laid.
"Alright," Sugar nodded, letting out a faint relieved sigh then said, "Talk. We are all listening."
Lemon nodded, took a soothing breath, organized her thoughts, then started talking before her nerves could get in the way.
"A long while back, like, around Kindergarden, my parents got caught in a car accident. Both of them where killed on the scene."
Petal flinched when she felt shock shoot through the room, followed by a spike of concern. Lemon sighed when she heard the faint gasps and the sounds of her friends shifting in their sleeping bag to face her. Still staring at the ceiling, she gave them a moment to digest that before she continued.
"Lucky for me, big sis was already eighteen at the time and was in a good enough place in her life to take me in. I was too little to really get what was going on at the time. One day, Mom and Dad went off to go do something and the next, Harshwhinny was taking care of me. When I got older and started asking questions, things got really tense between us. I...hated that she got to grow up with Mom and Dad and I didn't get that chance. I hated that all of my memories of them came from home videos. I hated myself for hating her so much, cuz, I mean, it wasn't her fault or anything like that. I just wanted to forget all of that and just be happy and I hated that I couldn't."
She swallowed thickly, tears starting to flow as she forced herself to continue.
"I hate that time of year because it's the week leading up to the anniversary of my parents' deaths."
A heavy weight filled the room as everyone tried to process that, none of them expecting the sheer density of their friend's emotional burden. Lemon wiped away her tears and closed her eyes, a peaceful smile gracing her lips as she felt her nerves finally settle. She felt tired, ragged in a way that had nothing to do with the late hour, but so much lighter. As if she had just let a bolder the size of Crystal Prep fall off of her shoulders. As sleep started to take her, she heard the rustling of fabric. Her eyes popped open when she felt a pair of arms embrace her from both sides.
"You should've said something," Indigo frowned from Lemon's left.
"Agreed," Sugar nodded from Lemon's right. "We were really worried about you."
"Yeah," Lemon sadly chuckled. "Sorry about that."
"I'm so sorry for your loss," Twilight sniffled, hastily wiping away tears from her seat at her sleeping bag.
A faint memory jumped to the front of Petal's mind. She couldn't see their faces and their names were a mystery, but three young Wraiths came to her, their cores yanked out of their small bodies and casually shattered by a cluster of sparkling violet tendrils. Heartbreaking loss echoed through her soul as the fragment of a memory drifted to a corner of her mind.
"Yeah," Petal somberly nodded.
Lemon watched them in concern then shock when the duo got up and added themselves to the group hug. A small warmth formed in the rocker's chest as she let herself drift off to sleep. As weird as they were, she was so lucky to have such great friends. She just hoped she could stay a good friend to them for as long as possible, regardless of what time of the year it was.